President Abbas: Two-State Solution Is in Real Danger

Ramallah, MINA – President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday that the two-state solution is in real danger, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

In a recorded speech addressing an estimated one million people gathering at the Saraya grounds in Gaza City commemorating 13 years for the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Abbas said that efforts are continuing to reach Palestinian reconciliation and reunite the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“We are proceeding with the Palestinian reconciliation,” he said.

“We are going to continue in that until we achieve one authority, one law and one legal weapon. I say to our people in Gaza that the timely implementation of the (reconciliation) agreement and by fully empowering the government will definitely ease the hardships and bring hope of a better future for all of us,” said President Abbas, telling Gazans that he hopes “to meet with you soon.”

Abbas said that despite the obstacles created by the Israeli occupation and its settlement projects, he still believes in peace.

“I want to tell all our friends around the world that despite of the obstacles created by the Israeli occupation and its apartheid-based colonial settlement activities, we are still holding on to the culture of peace and to fighting terrorism in our region and in the world.”

He said he was working with “the administration of (US) President (Donald) Trump and other concerned international bodies to reach a peace agreement based on international resolutions, the Arab Peace Initiative and the two-state solution on the 1967 border with East Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Palestine.”

He renewed his call on world governments that support the two-state solution to also recognize Palestine.

“We renew our call to the countries that believe in the two-state solution to recognize the two states and not only one state. This is because the two-state solution is now in real danger,” he said, adding, “We will not accept the policy of apartheid that we live under the Israeli occupation of our country and we will demand equal rights to the people of historic Palestine if the two-state solution is not implemented.” (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)