Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has given Israel one year to withdraw from occupied territory and threatened to withdraw its recognition of Israel if it failed to do so.
Abbas said he would no longer recognize Israel based on pre-1967 borders, which is a cornerstone of three decades of failed peace efforts, if it refused to withdraw from the territories Palestinians demand for a future state, in a virtual address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
The Palestinian President expressed, “We must state that Israel, the occupying power, has one year to withdraw from the Palestinian territory it occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem.”
“Why should we maintain the recognition of Israel based on the 1967 borders if this is not achieved,” he further stated.
The Palestinian leader expressed his willingness to work on solving the final status of the Palestine-Israel dispute “in accordance with United Nations resolutions and also called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to “convene an international peace conference” on the said issue.
Speaking against a backdrop of maps of the region showing Israel’s territorial expansion over several decades, Abbas also accused Israel of “apartheid” and “ethnic cleansing.”
Israel has occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza in the aftermath of the 1967 war and has not put an end to its illegal occupation of the seized territories since.
The Palestinian recognition of Israel has been the foundation of the 1993 Oslo Accords, a landmark moment in the pursuit of peace between the two sides.
