Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Thursday told the UN General Assembly that Palestinians were facing “one of the most dangerous times” in their history, delivering his address through a prerecorded video from Ramallah after the United States denied him and other senior Palestinian officials visas to attend the gathering for the second consecutive year. The 90-year-old Palestinian leader focused his remarks on the war in Gaza and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, accusing Israel of targeting the basic necessities required for Palestinians to live.
Abbas recorded the address Wednesday after the UN General Assembly voted last week to allow him to participate remotely. The resolution permitting his video appearance was adopted by 152 votes to three, with four abstentions, after Washington extended visa restrictions on officials of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority.
‘Dangerous time’ for Palestinians
“The Palestinian people face one of the most dangerous times in its history,” Abbas said, referring to the continuing conflict in Gaza and Israel’s decades-long military occupation of the West Bank. He accused Israel of having “targeted all of the basic necessities of life”, placing the humanitarian conditions facing Palestinians at the centre of his address to world leaders.
His speech came at a time when the Palestinian Authority has found itself increasingly marginalised from negotiations over Gaza’s political future. The authority continues to administer parts of the occupied West Bank but has not governed Gaza since Hamas forcibly took control of the territory following its victory in the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections and the subsequent conflict between the rival Palestinian factions.
Abbas has led the Palestinian Authority since 2005, when he was elected to what was intended to be a four-year presidential term. Palestinian presidential and legislative elections have not been held since 2006, and Abbas has faced longstanding criticism from Palestinians over governance, corruption and the absence of elections, even as the authority remains the internationally recognised Palestinian leadership.
US blocks visit for second year
Washington’s refusal to issue Abbas a visa marked the second successive year in which he was prevented from travelling to New York for the UN General Assembly. The US State Department said when extending the restrictions that Palestinian officials had failed to fulfil commitments and accused the PA and PLO of taking steps to “internationalize” the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including through proceedings involving international courts.
The Palestinian leadership rejected the US decision, while the visa restrictions also prompted debate over Washington’s obligations as host of the United Nations headquarters. Under the 1947 UN Headquarters Agreement, the United States is generally expected to facilitate access for foreign representatives attending UN meetings, though Washington maintains that it can impose restrictions on security and foreign-policy grounds.
The General Assembly subsequently authorised Abbas and other high-level Palestinian officials to participate remotely in certain UN meetings if they were unable to travel to the United States. The vote ensured Abbas could address the annual gathering despite the visa denial, as he had done under similar circumstances the previous year.
Palestinian state remains elusive
Under Abbas, diplomatic recognition of Palestine has expanded significantly, with a majority of UN member states now recognising it as a state. Palestine has held non-member observer state status at the United Nations since 2012, but repeated diplomatic gains have yet to translate into an independent Palestinian state on the ground.
Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war, and Palestinians seek both territories, along with Gaza, for a future state. Israeli settlements have continued to expand in the occupied West Bank, with Palestinians and much of the international community regarding them as illegal under international law, while Israel disputes that characterisation.
The Palestinian Authority itself was established under the Oslo agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1990s and exercises limited self-rule in parts of the West Bank. It remains heavily dependent on international assistance and has faced mounting domestic criticism as Israeli settlement expansion and violence in the occupied territory have continued.
Netanyahu address awaited
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to address the General Assembly in person later Thursday, setting up sharply contrasting presentations of the conflict from the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships. Abbas’s speech came as the future governance of Gaza, the continuing occupation of the West Bank and the prospects for Palestinian statehood remained central issues in diplomatic discussions surrounding the UN gathering.
For Abbas, however, the address was also shaped by his physical absence from New York for a second consecutive year. Speaking instead from his office in Ramallah, the Palestinian leader used the UN platform to argue that the combination of the Gaza war and the continuing occupation had brought his people to a particularly perilous point in their history.