London
20 °C
Manchester
Glasgow
14 °C
Dublin
Belfast
Washington
Denver
Atlanta
Dallas
Houston Texas
33 °C
New Orleans
30 °C
El Paso
Phoenix
Los Angeles
23 °C
32 °C
28 °C
12 °C
25 °C
Israel policies threaten 'life and existence' of Palestinians, Abbas says / Photo: ANGELA WEISS - AFP/File
Israel policies threaten 'life and existence' of Palestinians, Abbas says
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said at the UN on Thursday that Israeli policies no longer just jeopardized a two-state solution but were now threatening the "very life and existence" of his people.
He also slammed the United States for denying him a visa to attend the United Nations' top-level annual meeting as "punitive." He instead pre-recorded a video message that was played to the gathering in New York.
"The danger is no longer limited to undermining the two-state solution and preventing the realization of the Palestinian state. It has now come to threaten the very life and existence of the Palestinian people on their homeland," Abbas said.
"What is taking place in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem are not isolated incidents, but rather a malicious colonial scheme aimed at making the lives of Palestinians more difficult in their homeland and forcing them to leave it."
Israel's expansion of settlement building on the occupied West Bank "aims to separate the northern West Bank from its south, isolate East Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings, and prevent the realization of a geographically continuous Palestinian state."
"This requires urgent and responsible intervention by the United Nations Security Council," he said.
- Election delay fears -
The UN Trade and Development warned Thursday that Gaza is currently going through the worst economic crisis ever observed.
An Israeli military offensive sparked by a Hamas militant attack in October 2023 devastated the territory of two million people before a patchy ceasefire was announced in October 2025.
In the West Bank, violence by extremist Israeli settlers has surged, prompting Britain, France and Canada to impose economic sanctions.
With 160 countries now recognizing a State of Palestine, Abbas called on the UN Security Council to intervene urgently and responsibly.
"Today we say to the world: saving the solution begins with preserving the land on which the Palestinian state is to be established and protecting the people who live on it," he said.
Abbas said that Palestinians were heading toward legislative elections on November 28 "followed by the completion of the renewal of the institutions of the Palestinian National Council, followed by the Palestinian presidential elections."
In a letter sent in June 2025 to French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Abbas pledged to hold legislative and presidential elections on a fixed timetable.
On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot urged that those elections be held, amid mounting concerns in the international community they will be postponed due to logistical difficulties.
Those challenges relate to delivering voting materials to the Gaza Strip as well as securing Israeli visas for international observers to reach the West Bank, as requested by the European Union.
(D.Lewis--TAG)
