Israel must be stripped of United Nations membership for failing to accept a two-state resolution to the conflict and allowing the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday.
“Israel, which refuses to implement United Nations resolutions, does not deserve to be a member of this international organization,” he told the UN General Assembly.
“We are going to submit an application to the UNGA on this matter,” he said.
Israel “has from the very beginning not fulfilled the conditions of membership, because in 1949, when it submitted its application” for membership, the UN imposed two conditions, Abbas said.
Two conditions on Israel
The first is that Israel accepts Resolution 181, he said, referring to the text that backed the UN’s 1947 partition plan, which called for the territory that had been part of mandatory Palestine between the two world wars to be divided into a Jewish state and an Arab state.
The second condition, he said, is that Israel accepts Resolution 194, which calls for the right of return for Palestinians who fled their homes during the War of Independence in 1948.
Abbas called on the UN to recognize Palestine as a member state, a move that has been blocked by the United States at the Security Council, which must approve such a step.
“How could the United States insist on depriving our people” of this fundamental right? he asked.
Abbas spoke close to a year since Hamas invaded southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages. In response, Israel embarked on a military campaign to destroy Hamas, which has forcibly ruled Gaza since 2007. According to Hamas, more than 41,000 people have been killed in the Israel-Hamas War. According to Israel, 17,000 of the fatalities were combatants.
In his address, Abbas did not mention Hamas, although he did condemn the killing of innocent civilians. He portrayed Israel as the aggressor, accused it of genocide, and asked the UN to stop the war.
Abbas opened his remarks by saying three times, “We will not leave,” and adding, “Palestine is our homeland. It is the land of our fathers, our grandfathers, and it will remain ours. If anyone were to leave, it would be the occupying usurpers.”
Abbas accused Israel of using the October 7 massacre to launch “an all-out genocidal war” against the Palestinian people. He called on the international community to stop arming Israel.
“Stop this crime,” he said. “Stop the genocide. Stop sending weapons to Israel. This madness cannot continue. The entire world is responsible for what is happening.”
Abbas compared Israel’s war against Hamas to its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“Israel is now launching a war of aggression against Lebanon,” he said. “The Lebanese people are now subject to a war of genocide. We condemn this aggression, and we demand that it stop immediately.”
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