Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip during Operation Protective Edge. In his speech before the United Nations on Friday, Abbas accused Israel of “seeking the continuation and entrenchment of the occupation” as well as announced his plans to seek approval from the Security Council for a draft resolution to establish a timetable for “independence”.
Abbas started his speech stating that “In this year, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, Israel has chosen to make it a year of a new war of genocide perpetrated against the Palestinian people.” He even referred to Israel as a “colonial occupying power.”
On the draft resolution he spoke of united Arab efforts to move forward in the establishment of a Palestinian state. He stated, “During the past two weeks, Palestine and the Arab Group undertook intensive contacts with the various regional groups in the United Nations to prepare for the introduction of a draft resolution to be adopted by the United Nations Security Council on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to push forward the efforts to achieve peace.”
Abbas insisted on Jerusalem as the capitol city of the future Palestinian state, as well as a return to 67’ borders. He stated that “This endeavor aspires to correct the deficiency of the previous efforts to achieve peace by affirming the goal of ending the Israeli occupation and achieving the two-state solution, of the State of Palestine, with east Jerusalem as its capital, over the entire territory occupied in 1967, alongside the State of Israel and reaching a just and agreed upon solution to the plight of the Palestine refugees on the basis of resolution 194, with a specific timeframe for the implementation of these objectives as stipulated in the Arab Peace Initiative.”
Last month Abbas refused an offer by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi for 617-square miles (five times the size of Gaza) of the Sinai Peninsula for the establishment of a Palestinian state. The designated land would have solved the Palestinian refugee problem.
Abbas stated, “This will be linked to the immediate resumption of negotiations between Palestine and Israel to demarcate the borders, reach a detailed and comprehensive agreement and draft a peace treaty between them.”
On Thursday, Fatah and Hamas announced an agreement for the return of its unity government. Hamas openly calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and refuses to directly negotiate with Israel, an issue that will affect resumed talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.
Photo credit: BillyClub (Creative Commons)
Amir Tsarfati, a Jewish Christian, is the founder and president of Behold Israel, a news site to correct the scarcity in trustworthy reportage on issues and events impacting Israel, and to resolve the uncertainty about who or what to believe.
