Palestinian Authority unity government chairman Mahmoud Abbas is refusing to negotiate over land with Israel — a violation of the internationally-recognized Oslo Accords intended to help it reach final status boundaries for the entity and its residents.
Abbas was quoted in a report by Arab affairs journalist Khaled Abu Toameh as saying he “won’t give up one inch of 1967.”
The Palestinian Authority leader claimed that he had evidence “Hamas and Israel are conducting negotiations.”
Even though Hamas joined together with the Fatah faction led by Abbas this past spring, and the two created a PA unity government, Abbas spoke as if the factions were separate.
“The Palestinian Authority does not exist in Gaza,” Abbas said. “Hamas is responsible for Gaza.”
While Abbas is still refusing to make any compromises, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi warned him Saturday at a meeting of the Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo peace will never be achieved in that way.
“International guarantees must be provided in order to encourage Israel to move towards peace,” El-Sisi warned Abbas during the meeting in Cairo.
Meanwhile the Arab League decided at its meeting in any case to back the PA’s attempt to force the United Nations to set a deadline for its recognition as a sovereign nation based on the 1949 Armistice Lines.
“We call on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to provide international protection Palestinian people on Palestinian land occupied in 1967,” said the Arab League in a statement quoted by CCTV-America on Saturday.
“We will go to the Security Council to request a recognition of a Palestinian State based on the June 1967 borders and place a deadline for this step,” said Abbas. “We will sign full membership in all international organizations including the International Criminal Court.”
Egypt has for the past several months been working on an initiative to secure the borders between Israel and any PA state when and if it ever comes into being.