Abbas to UN: Palestine a state under occupation, may no longer be bound by accords

T. Belman. I have read a number of reports on this speech at the WSJ, NYT, Guardian etc.. They all misrepresent what the Oslo Accords provides. The Accords do not assure the PA of statehood and do not make mention of the armistice lines. They do not restrict settlement construction in Area C. They do not call for a divided Jerusalem. What it does do among other things, is stipulate that all final status issues are to be resolved by negotiations. The only reason that these issues have not been resolved is because the PA was unwilling to negotiate and unwilling to compromise which is the essence of negotiations.

So long as Oslo applies, there is little pressure on Israel to give the Arabs citizenship. That’s a good thing. Plus 90% of the Arabs are totally ruled by the PA. That’s also a good thing except that the PA violates Oslo by inciting to violence. Israel chooses not to do anything about it.

Unfortunately the world community blames Israel for the impasse.

‘Our patience has come to an end,’ PA leader declares to UN, calling on world to recognize Palestinian state; Netanyahu blasts ‘deceitful’ speech

BY ITAMAR SHARON AND SARA MILLER, TOI

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly, at U.N. Headquarters on Sept. 30, 2015. (AP/Richard Drew)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that the PA would cease to abide by agreements signed with Israel, including the 1993 Oslo accords, claiming Israel had shown that it, too, was no longer committed to them.

“So long as Israel refuses to commit to the agreements signed with us, cease settlement construction and release prisoners, Israel has left us no choice but to insist that we will not remain the only ones committed to these agreements,” Abbas told the UN General Assembly in New York.

Israel, he said, must now “fully assume all its responsibilities as an occupying power… our patience for a long time has come to an end.”

“The state of Palestine, based on the 4th of June 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, is a state under occupation, as was the case for many countries during World War II,” Abbas declared. “Our state is recognized by 137 countries around the world and the right of our people to self determination, freedom and independence is recognized globally as being inalienable and unquestionable.”

Abbas accused the Israeli government of running “an apartheid regime” in the West Bank. Israel “insists on continuing its destruction of the two-state solution and on entrenchment of two regimes on the ground,” he charged. “An apartheid regime that is currently imposed on the territory of the state of Palestine and against the Palestinian people on the one hand, and another regime of privileges and protection to the Israeli settlers on the other hand.”

The Israeli government later rejected the speech as “deceitful” and called for renewed peace talks.

Abbas also warned in his speech that Israel was in danger of turning a political conflict into a religious one, saying that its recent actions on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount holy site represented an attempt to change the status quo there.

Abbas said “extremist Israeli groups” visiting the compound under Israeli security protection were seeking to impose a new reality and divide the compound, which is host to the al-Aqsa mosque but is also sacred to Jews as the site of two biblical temples.

He accused Israeli “occupying forces” of entering the site while preventing Muslim worshipers from exercising their religious rights.

Such policies, he warned, could lead to an “implosion” in the region.

“It is no longer useful to waste time in negotiations for the sake of negotiations; what is required is to mobilize international efforts to oversee an end to the occupation in line with the resolutions of international legitimacy,” he said. “Until then, I call upon the United Nations to provide international protection for the Palestinian people in accordance with international humanitarian law.”

Abbas said that, as opposed to Israelis, the Palestinians were a “peace-loving” people, and urged full UN recognition of a Palestinian state.

“We do not respond to the Israeli occupation’s hatred and brutality with the same,” he claimed. “Instead, we are working on spreading the culture of peace and coexistence between our people and in our region, and we are anxious to realize it and to witness the day when all of the people in our region will enjoy peace, security, stability and prosperity.”

He alleged that world nations that do not support the recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN and other international platforms were in fact encouraging extremists in Israel, “making them believe that they are above the law.”

He accused the Israeli government of continuing “its illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank, especially occupied East Jerusalem.”

The Jewish state, he added, “continues its blockade of the Gaza Strip, thus deepening the immense suffering of the people there, in defiance of UN resolutions and agreement signed between the two sides.”

Abbas called for an end to the “humiliating” checkpoints in the West Bank and said “racist, terrorist, colonial settlement” was destroying the two-state solution.

“How does a nation that claims to be a bastion of democracy accept the existence of ‘price tag’ gangs?” he asked, referring to attacks by right-wing extremists against Palestinian civilians, which Israeli leaders have said constitute Jewish terrorism.

“Is it not time for racism to end? For Israeli checkpoints in our land to be removed? For the blockade of Gaza to be removed so that our people can move freely in their homeland? Is it not time to demolish the settlements that are ruining the two-state solution? Is it not time for Palestinian prisoners to know freedom and meet their families and communities?

“All of the crimes against our people…have passed without punishment. For how long will Israel remain above international law and without accountability?”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Abbas’s speech to the UN distorted the truth, and accused the PA president of having no intention of making peace with Israel.

“[Abbas’s] speech is deceitful and encourages incitement and disaster in the Middle East,” he said in a statement. “Unlike the Palestinians, Israel strictly adheres to the status quo on the Temple Mount, and is committed to continuing to do so in accordance with the agreements between Israel and Jordan and the Waqf. We expect and urge the [Palestinian] Authority and its leader to act responsibly and accept the offer by the prime minister of Israel to hold direct negotiations with Israel without preconditions. The fact that he time and again has not responded is the best proof there is that he has no intention of reaching a peace agreement.”

In an opinion piece published in the Huffington Post ahead of the speech, Abbas called for a multilateral peace initiative and accused the nations of the world of abandoning the Palestinian people and leaving them to suffer Israeli “ethnic cleansing” that was, he said, worse than apartheid.

“Palestine has languished on the UN agenda since the organization’s inception,” Abbas wrote. “This persistent neglect has cost too many lives, dampened hope, undermined international law and stained the reputation of the UN.”

In the run-up to the event speculation abounded that Abbas could rattle relations with Israel by making various bold declarations such as ending the ongoing security coordination with Israel, declaring the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority, or announcing his own resignation.

The speech is set to be followed by a ceremony marking the raising of the Palestinian flag at the United Nations, a highly symbolic move hailed by Ramallah as a milestone in the Palestinians’ drive for statehood.

Critics in Israel, the US and elsewhere have derided the move as unhelpful toward peace efforts, but Abbas in his Huffington Post piece blamed moribund peace talks on “Israel’s pursuit of reckless policies,” a likely reference to Israeli settlement building.

Israel Radio reported on Wednesday that Hamas and the Islamic Jihad had called on Abbas to use the speech to abandon the Oslo Accords that created the Palestinian Authority and have been the basis for cooperation with Israel ever since. The report cited Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian negotiator, as saying that Abbas knows a one-sided commitment to the accords is pointless.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would use his speech at the UN the day after Abbas to call on the Palestinian Authority to desist from “gross lies” and “wild incitement” over the Temple Mount, saying Israel was committed to the status quo at the holy site.

Stuart Winer contributed to this report.

October 1, 2015 | 28 Comments »

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  1. And then there is anarchy, which is cost efficient because there is no need for uniforms.

    Very funny but true!

  2. Anyone with basic civics education knows the basic government systems available.
    Presidential
    Parliamentary
    Monarchical absolute
    Monarchical / Parliamentary
    Dictatorial
    Religious
    A booklet is available describing each one.

    And then there is anarchy, which is cost efficient because there is no need for uniforms.

  3. @ Bear Klein:
    Do you notice that the only one talking about civil war is you? Is that something the GSS trained you to do to discredit? Ducky, try another tack. That one is far too well known.
    During each of the assaults against Jews by the renegades in power, the “civil war” cuckoo was raised by the unJews time and time again. Meanwhile the Sharon, Olmert-Livni and Netanyahu gangs assaulted Gush Katif, Amona, Bet El.

    We demand root change, not cosmetic Roman Circle styled rotations. We demand that all the Oslo unJewish garbage be dumped.
    Then FREE ELECTIONS outside the corrupted computer files used to control voters. I participated in three elections representing the likud… I know the works.
    UnJews are renegades that find ways to harm Jews. Now a widely used term. I coined the term. Mr. Victor S almost at the same time did as well.
    End of tread.

  4. Change that is positive unifies and does not divide such as the term “unJews”.

    Yes constructive positive change is needed but dividing and advocating civil war with a “platform” seems like a possible prelude to the end of Israel if its effect is large enough.

  5. @ Bear Klein:
    Bear,
    We know well who is who and what to disclose or not.
    The only civil war hare is the one waged by unJews against Jews. Oslo, “disengagement”, administrative detentions, homes destroyed, use of tasers, and far more.

  6. My assumption is my last question will again be deflected or avoided.

    This makes for two logical deductions.

    The actions contemplated are some type of civil war and certain people will try and take the reigns of power.

    The other deduction is that there is nothing real that is on the table (platform is vapor-ware) and so no answer is possible.

  7. @ Bear Klein:
    Anyone with basic civics education knows the basic government systems available.
    Presidential
    Parliamentary
    Monarchical absolute
    Monarchical / Parliamentary
    Dictatorial
    Religious
    A booklet is available describing each one.

    ELECTION OUTSIDE THE CONTROLLED system in place.
    The people is called to elect a temporary Guiding Commission. This is published on newspapers, etc.
    The rest is detailed in our Platform in place since 2003.

  8. @ SHmuel HaLevi 2:
    Explain in straight plain language what your plan is? How can one decide if they like alternative government system if it is not really clear.

    How does one have seperate elections for example?

  9. @ babushka:
    The Netanyahu or Hertzog or anyone else profiles are terrible. The whole system must be plowed under and a new government system selected by the people.
    We must all start making hard decisions.
    Netanyahu and all the flotsam MUST go, no exceptions and now. I find it not longer possible to tolerate the face making, pose speechster with a penchant for lying and betraying.
    From among the people there are many that must offer themselves as candidates. Elections OUTSIDE the combina.
    I will be willing to participate in any modest way.
    More…

  10. How is that idiotic charade from Oslo been playing out for those that support the eunuch and his so called military and its unJews?

    For those who support Netanyahu, these murders are nothing more than a temporary interruption of their fantasy. The Two-State Solution is similar to the Seven Percent Solution in that it has a hallucinatory effect, and it is an inevitable prelude to the Final Solution.

    The Real Solution is to get a stronger prime minister.

  11. @ Bear Klein:
    Two more “victims of peace” were murdered by Netanyahu’s peace partners while he was making moronic poses and faces in NY.
    Speeches with silence poses Vs Islamic murderers with real bullets. How is that idiotic charade from Oslo been playing out for those that support the eunuch and his so called military and its unJews?
    Netanyahu is a blow hard nothing who has sold out our very existence for a degenerate platform leading to him getting his Nobel.
    There is no time left for gyrating in neutral.

  12. @ SHmuel HaLevi 2:

    So please flush out your proposal:

    Specify constitution; Based solely on Jewish Law?

    Hybrid including non Jewish laws?

    Who will be given the right to write it?

    How the constitutional convention delegates will be elected?

    Will non Jews be allowed to be part of the convention?
    etc.

  13. Again.
    There are no such things as religious and agnostic Jewish laws. There are Jewish Laws.
    Then there are Rabbinical extrapolations that one may say generally follow the core laws.
    Now… If having a constitution means adopting Greek, Roman, British, etc, laws, then what’s the point saying that this is a Jewish country?

  14. @ SHmuel HaLevi 2:

    I would be interested in your plan? You seem defensive when I asked if your plan was based only religious Jewish law?

    I do not yet have a plan as I told and I am slowly doing research.

  15. Apparently in your understanding Jewish Law applies only if one is religious. My understanding is that Jewish Law applies to all Jews, religious or not and at all times. Jewish Law will hardly be applicable to non Jews, would it? Why should we use the Goyim’s laws?
    Why would a Jewish person in Eretz Israel obey Greek, British, French, Roman laws? (Even if translated to Hebrew 🙂
    Sanhedrin never governed Israel. It was a vastly more sophisticated court than the copycat so called “supreme court”.

  16. @ SHmuel HaLevi 2: I would be interested in your plan as I do not have a detailed written plan!

    I gather that you want a purely religious state governed by Jewish Law?

    Are you suggesting a “Sandahrein” (religious council) to govern Israel

    Long term I have been brainstorming one new Israeli Constitution and may write it as part of a book or post it section by section in a future blog, including ideas to manage/solve Israel-Arab conflict.

  17. As leader of the Palestinian Authority, Abbas is the primary beneficiary of the status quo. Arafat stole billions from the gullible saps who supported him, and Abbas is doing the same. It would therefore be interesting to learn what is now motivating him to risk killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Given that he has done absolutely nothing to benefit rank and file Palestinians, he is doubtlessly being motivated by self-interest. So why rock the boat when you are a degenerate parasite who possesses carte blanche to pilfer massive amounts of cash?

  18. @ Bear Klein:
    Specify constitution; Based solely on Jewish Law?
    Hybrid including non Jewish laws?
    Who will be given the right to write it?
    How the constitutional convention delegates will be elected?
    Will non Jews be allowed to be part of the convention?
    etc.

  19. @ Bear Klein:Bear,
    You are inventing my position. You call the disgrace today democracy? NOW the government, the true government is selected by a few secretive “va’adot”.
    Now we have illegally held w/o trial in “administrative detention” many people.
    Our proposal is to let the people FREELY elect a new form of government. A whole new system of government elected by the people.
    The gruesome self elected “supreme court” disbanded and a NEW court FREELY elected by the people,
    No palace revolt called for. We are calling for FREE elections of Police Commanders. Not recycled insiders as it is today.

  20. Abbas wants a state handed to him by the international community without negotiating with Israel. This way no concessions to Israel are needed. He has not abrogated the security arrangements because they keep him and his people safe. He leaves the threat of doing this on the table by saying he does not need to continue to be bound by Oslo. This is a threat to Israel and the PAL supporters in the US, EU and elsewhere in order to threaten all. Abbas is trying to have his cake and eat to.

    Israel can do the same. At this point do not dissolve the Oslo accords. However Israel by the accords can build in area C. Israel should just establish more facts (Jewish Towns e.g. settlement) in Judah/Samaria.

    Hopefully accurate, some of this maybe quietly occurring, “Moshe Ya’alon to expand Etzion settlement area south of Jerusalem to include former church compound next to al-Aroub”, is reported in the Times of Israel. This would make contiguous Jewish corridor from Jerusalem to Hebron.

  21. @ SHmuel HaLevi 2:
    I am getting closer to your thinking on the matter that it is getting harder and harder to think that we can co-exist with many or maybe most of the Arabs in our midst.

    My difficulty is understanding what you always (over the years) strongly allude to, that a new non-democratic style government will be formed via a civil war or is it some type of palace revolt?

    This government will be run by election from a select list of eligible leaders to be the President/Ruler/King of Israel (you have alluded to this in the past).

    Who will form this new select leadership selection group and who will be eligible?

    Are you not even a little afraid that a civil war is how we actually will lose Israel to the Arabs because of internal violence. I have many more questions but my guess is you will just avoid these questions or deflect them by others means such as attack. Maybe I will be surprised and you will answer directly and honestly.

  22. Our collective stupidity and self appointed victim status is well past rational understanding. There never was a peace, shmease, process or there is one or will be one. It was a gruesome betrayal. Intentionally developed.
    Rabin and his family and associates, Peres and the peresites, Beilin and his associated flotsam, Barak, Aloni, Sarid, Ben Yair, Ben Ami, Sharon and his boys, Olmert. Livni, Dagan, etc must be brought to true courts and justice. Netanyahu is hovering at the edge.
    The vast majority of the Muslims cannot be part of our State. Much as we cannot live in any of their locations.