Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, stated on Thursday that if Palestinians do not fully exercise their legal rights, there would not be peace in the Middle East.
“Those who think that peace can prevail in the Middle East without the Palestinian people enjoying their full and legitimate national rights would be mistaken,” Abbas told the General Debate of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.
He called for Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations and urged countries to recognize Palestine’s statehood.
“I can neither understand, nor accept, that some states, including America and European states, are reluctant to recognize the state of Palestine, which the United Nations has accepted as an observer state,” he said.
He urged the organization of an international peace conference in which all nations interested in seeing the Middle East peacefully resolved will take part. He asked Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, to make the necessary preparations for the conference.
Additionally, he urged the Secretary-General of the UN to put into effect the pertinent resolutions in order to defend the Palestinian people.
He said it has become important to urge each UN member state to act in its national capacity in accordance with the pertinent resolutions in light of Israel’s methodical demolition of the two-state solution.
“My message to the international community is that it should assume its responsibilities with full courage and implement resolutions related to realizing Palestinian rights,” he said.
