Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday urged U.S. President Donald Trump to honor commitments made to Arab countries to prevent the displacement of Palestinians and any annexation of Palestinian territory.
Abbas made the appeal in a pre-recorded speech to the 81st session of the U.N. General Assembly after being unable to attend the gathering in person for the second consecutive year.
He urged the U.S. to work with the Palestinian leadership and the international community to implement a two-state solution based on international law.
Abbas said Palestinians had welcomed Trump’s peace plan "but had seen no progress on the ground.”
He also warned world leaders against allowing a "repeat of the Nakba and massacres” Palestinians suffered in 1948.
The Palestinian president said his people are facing one of the "most dangerous periods in their history,” citing killings, destruction, starvation and attempts at forced displacement in the Gaza Strip.
Abbas said any transitional period must ultimately lead to the reunification of the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank under one Palestinian state with a single legitimate armed force.
He also accused Israel of withholding more than $6 billion in Palestinian funds and demanded their immediate release.
Abbas rejected what he described as punitive measures preventing him and members of the Palestinian delegation from attending the General Assembly, saying the restrictions violate U.S. obligations as host country of the United Nations.
He urged Washington to reverse the measures and allow the Palestinian leadership to participate fully in U.N. meetings.
