West Bank – Anyone who gives up Jerusalem is a traitor and there will be no Palestinian state without the city as its capital, PA President Mahmoud Abbas said.
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He also reiterated his opposition to recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.
Abbas was speaking during a meeting with Palestinian journalists in his office on Saturday night. It came 48 hours after he held a similar meeting with a group of Israeli journalists.
He said the Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital on the 1967 borders was “inevitable,” adding that the Palestinians would remain steadfast on their lands despite the challenges.
The Palestinian Authority leader said Palestinian diplomatic efforts were continuing to convene an international peace conference. He said the Arab countries supported the efforts.
He said the Palestinian leadership would go to the UN Security Council in a bid to halt construction in the settlements.
Abbas noted that the move would be coordinated with Arab foreign ministers.
“We won’t agree to continue implementing the signed agreements with Israel if it continues to ignore these agreements,” he said. “Also, we won’t accept any temporary agreements that do not comply with our legitimate rights.”
Abbas said he remains committed to the establishment of a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 liners with east Jerusalem as its capital. “Anyone who accepts a Palestinian state without Jerusalem as its capital is a traitor,” he added.
The 80-year-old reiterated his readiness to resume peace talks with Israel once there is a cessation of settlement construction and more Palestinian prisoners are released from Israeli prisons. “We don’t want negotiations for the sake of negotiations,” he said. Abbas cautioned once again against turning the conflict into a religious one.
“Despite what Israel is doing, we continue to extend our hand for making peace,” Abbas told the journalists. “We reject any and all forms of extremism.”
Abbas voiced support for the “peaceful, popular uprising,” which, he stressed, should remain peaceful “to prevent the occupation from cold-bloodedly killing our children.”
Abbas defended security coordination between Israel and the PA security forces. He said the Palestinian security forces’ mission was to maintain security. Anyone who acts against security would be arrested, he said.
“The security forces want to protect the Palestinians,” the PA president said. “These forces are operating on my orders and I won’t allow anyone to drag me to a battle that I don’t want.”
Abbas has spoken forthrightly now it is Netanyahu’s turn. No rewards for terrorism – Dafne Meir’s death should be the final straw. No to negotiations, no to appeasement, no to Shapiro, Kerry and Obama. A people that raises its young to hate and kill is NOT a partner for peace. If the world cannot see that, they are willfully blind. Let them turn the other cheek – we must say NO MORE!
keep on dreaming
Fine then, old man, continue to lead your masses to a hate filled futureless existence. Maybe in twenty years more Islam will produce someone who can think? Highly doubtful, it hasn’t happened yet!
His comments contradict themselves from one sentence to the next. Palestinians are an invented people and have no claims to our land. Let them jump into the sea and drown. I wouldn’t shed one tear for all those diseased ticks.
Take a look at it from another perspective. Lets pretend we call Israel Palestine (as it was when the brits were ruling). Jerusalem is already its capital city. There are already Jews, Cristians and Arabs living in the country as its citizens. The government is democratically elected and includes people from all 3 (or definitely Jews & Arabs). The west bank, gaza & the sinai were all part of this unified country at some point, but were given up “in the name of peace”. Is there peace? No. So what do they want? their own country. But didnt they have a unified country before and were not peaceful? Yes, but they dont want to share it and be peaceful. They want it all. To themselves. with no Jews. They basically want the whole country as an arab country. They dont want to live peacefully. They want to get rid of the Jews. There can not be a peaceful resolution.