‘No peace in Middle East without Palestinians’ full rights’: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

UNITED NATIONS: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said there would be no peace in the Middle East if Palestinians do not fully enjoy their legitimate rights.

“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, Xinhua news agency reported.

“I can neither understand, nor accept, that some states, including America and European states, are reluctant to recognise the state of Palestine, which the United Nations has accepted as an observer state,” he said.

He appealed for holding an international peace conference, in which all countries concerned with achieving peace in the Middle East will participate.

He requested UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to make necessary arrangements for the conference.

He also called on the United Nations and the secretary-general to implement the relevant resolutions to provide protection for the Palestinian people

In the face of Israel’s systematic destruction of the two-state solution, it has become necessary to call on each UN member state, in its national capacity, to take practical steps on the basis of the relevant resolutions, he said.

“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. (IANS)

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