Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday and urged world leaders to recognize a Palestinian state. He also called on the Security Council to convene an international Middle East peace conference by mid-2018.
Abbas said the only way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is by establishing "a multilateral international mechanism emanating from an international conference and in line with international law and the relevant resolutions."
He demanded that Israel halt settlement construction during any future negotiations, as well as any other unilateral move that could have implications for a future peace deal.
"Israel is acting like a state above the law," he said. "It has transformed the occupation from a temporary situation into a situation of permanent settlement colonization. How can this happen? Israel shut the door on the two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 borders."
Abbas stressed his commitment to nonviolence, but said the Palestinians would oppose any attempt to impose a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, announced by President Donald Trump on Dec. 6, should be frozen, Abbas said. He called the decision "dangerous" and said it destroyed U.S. credibility as a Middle East peace broker.
"It has become impossible today for one country alone to solve a regional or international conflict without the participation of other international partners," Abbas said.
He said the "international multilateral mechanism" at the heart of the Palestinian "peace plan" should include Israelis and Palestinians, the five permanent Security Council members, and key regional and international governments. He said 74 countries had attended a Middle East peace conference in Paris in January 2017.
Abbas said the principle of two states living side by side with full sovereignty must be preserved, but he said the U.S. has not clarified whether it backs a two-state or a one-state solution.
As Abbas spoke, the Trump administration's two key Middle East negotiators – the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Jason Greenblatt – sat in the Security Council chamber listening. But he left without speaking to them and without listening to U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who said that "the United States stands ready to work with the Palestinian leadership" and the two envoys are "ready to talk."
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres stressed that "there is no Plan B" to a two-state solution. But he warned that "after decades of support, the global consensus for a two-state solution could be eroding."
Guterres spoke against any one-state solution, saying, "It is simply impossible to square the circle of a one-state reality with the legitimate national, historic and democratic aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians."
Abbas was the last to arrive at the Security Council, and he left immediately after his speech for a reception hosted by the Palestinians, avoiding any direct contact with the Americans or Israelis.
Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon accused Abbas of "once again running away" and refusing to meet Netanyahu for seven and a half years "to negotiate peace."
He accused Abbas of using "hateful speech" and glorifying violence, instead of improving the lives of Palestinians.
"The Palestinians need leadership that will speak to Israel and not run away from dialogue. You [Abbas] just addressed the members of the Security Council and spoke of your commitments to peace. This is what you often do when speaking to international forums. But when you address your people, you convey a very different message," Danon said.
"Mr. Abbas, your incitement does not end with rhetoric. You have made it official Palestinian policy to sponsor terrorism. In 2017, you spent $345 million paying terrorists for killing innocent Israelis. That is 50% of the total foreign aid donated to the PA. This is money you could have spent building 40 hospitals. This is money you could have used to build over 170 schools, every single year.
"Mr. Abbas, you have made it clear with your words and with your actions that you are no longer part of the solution – you are the problem."
Netanyahu's office issued a statement saying, "Abbas didn't say anything new. He continues to run away from peace, and continues to pay terrorists and their families."
Speaking after Abbas, Haley said the Trump administration was offering "an outstretched hand to the Palestinian people and their leaders. But we will not chase after you. The choice, Mr. President [Abbas], is yours."
She said the U.S. will not change its decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that has frozen U.S.-Palestinian relations.
She said the Palestinian leadership has a choice of two paths: "absolutist demands, hateful rhetoric, and incitement to violence," which would lead only to hardship for the Palestinian people, or "negotiation and compromise," which hold the promise of peace.
In response to Abbas' speech, Josh Raffel, a White House spokesman who works on the Israeli-Palestinian file, said, "We appreciated the opportunity to listen to his speech. We were hoping to hear some new and constructive ideas, and the recognition that Jerusalem is holy to Jews in addition to Muslims and Christians is a step in the right direction. But as Ambassador Haley warned, setting forth old talking points and undeveloped concepts for each of the core issues will not achieve peace.
"We are trying to do the opposite and will continue working on our plan, which is designed to benefit both the Israeli and Palestinian people. We will present it when it is done and the time is right."
Equatorial Guinea's U.N. Ambassador Anatolio Ndong Mba said the fact that Abbas had come to the council was "very, very important" and "a good sign." But he said council members "have not received any details" of the U.S. proposal for Palestinian-Israeli peace.
France's U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre said his government received Abbas' proposal with interest and will study his call for an international conference, but U.S. participation in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process "is indispensable."
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman also condemned Abbas' comments, saying in a statement, "We all know who Abbas is. One hand pays salaries to terrorists who harm Israel and their families, and the other hand seeks recognition from the United Nations."
Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett said, "I recommend that Abu Mazen [Abbas] focus not on an imaginary past but on the creation of a realistic future."
