UNITED NATIONS: Israel is deliberately impeding progress toward a two-state solution and can no longer be considered a reliable partner in the peace process, Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas told the United Nations on Friday.

Abbas said the Jewish state has acted with “total impunity” against people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and that Palestinians’ trust in the prospects for peace is “regressing”, Israel “is, through its premeditated and deliberate policies, destroying the two-state solution”, the Palestinian Authority (PA) president said in a speech to the General Assembly.

“This proves unequivocally that Israel does not believe in peace,” he added. “Therefore, we no longer have an Israeli partner to whom we can talk.”

Abbas called the Israeli premier’s support for a two-state solution a “positive development”, but said a true test of credibility “is for the Israeli government to go back to the negotiation table — immediately, tomorrow”. Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations have been stalled since 2014.

The Lapid government’s current strategy is to try to support the Palestinian economy, but without embarking on a peace process with Abbas.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2022