Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday called on the Arab countries to abide by the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and refrain from normalizing their relations with Israel.
Noting that the initiative calls for the Arabs to normalize their relations with Israel after the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital, Abbas said: “The Arabs must abide by their decisions. The Arab Peace Initiative was presented by Saudi Arabia in 2002 and since then it has been endorsed by the Arabs and the United Nations Security Council. The Arabs must reiterate their commitment to the Arab Peace Initiative during the upcoming meeting of the Arab League, which will be chaired by Palestine.”
Abbas, who was speaking during a videoconference meeting of leaders of all Palestinian factions in Ramallah and Beirut, said that the Palestinians did not and will not mandate anyone to speak on their behalf.
In an implicit reference to the recent normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Abbas, who was speaking from his presidential Mukata compound in Ramallah, said: “Normalization schemes with the occupation are used as a poisonous dagger to stab our people. The [Israel-US-UAE] tripartite agreement is the latest poisonous dagger with which they stabbed us. We are meeting today to confront all these conspiracies.”
Abbas told the faction leaders that the purpose of the meeting was to “move forward with a unified political position to end the division [between the West Bank and Gaza Strip], establish national and political partnership and hold presidential and parliamentary elections.”
Abbas said that Thursday’s meeting, which was attended by leaders of 14 Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, “comes during a dangerous phase in which the Palestinian cause is facing conspiracies and dangers, first and foremost the so-called Deal of the Century and the annexation plan.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hosted a meeting in Ramallah Thursday night which included the leaders of terror groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The meeting focused on reconciliation efforts among the Palestinians and on the United Arab Emirates’ decision to normalize ties with Israel last month.
Senior members of all 14 main major Palestinian factions were in attendance for the first time in nearly a decade. Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah joined by video conference from Beirut.
“We will work to end division, achieve reconciliation, and hold general legislative elections… Know that we are one people,” Abbas said in a speech opening the meeting. Abbas’s PA has said it seeks co-existence alongside Israel; Hamas and Islamic Jihad avowedly seek Israel’s destruction.
Abbas called for a “follow-up committee” to be formed as well as for “national dialogue… to create mechanisms to end the division.”
“We want it to be over,” he said, referring to the schism between the Palestinian factions. “It’s enough. We’re one people.”
The Palestinian Authority had previously announced that Palestinians would hold their first legislative elections in 14 years in 2020, but such plans appear to have been scrapped since the advent of the coronavirus pandemic.
Abbas castigated the UAE’s decision to normalize ties with Israel as “a poisoned dagger.” He called for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers to condemn the decision.
“We are the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. We are those who speak for the Palestinians… Either you help us, or stand aside,” Abbas said.
As part of the deal with the UAE, Israel agreed to indefinitely suspend plans to annex parts of the West Bank, an achievement Abu Dhabi has highlighted in explaining why it sought the accord.
But Abbas rejected this narrative, claiming it was the PA that thwarted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declared plan to annex the 30% of the West Bank allocated to Israel under the Trump peace plan.
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