By Arul Louis
United Nations, Feb 20 (IANS) Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday presented a three-point peace plan centered on convening an international peace conference by mid-year to foster negotiations to resolve the intractable conflict with Israel.
Speaking at a Security Council meeting on Palestine, he said his peace plan "addresses the core problems that have undermined peace efforts across the decades".
The conference should lead to the formation of an international multilateral mechanism that helps both parties to hold negotiations with a timeframe for implementing agreements they reach, he said.
Palestine will push for full membership in the UN, where it now has only observer status, he said.
Reiterating Palestine's commitment to hold negotiations with Israel, Abbas said it "is our strategic choice for the sake of the coming generations in our region".
The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, warned the Council that "the enemies of peace are growing more confident by the day" because "every failure of the forces of moderation as a win for the forces of radicalisation".
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was at the session as also Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah Kuwait's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. Kuwait is the president of the Council for this month.
Speaking to the Council after almost nine years, Abbas said: "We will continue to extend our hands to make peace and will continue to exert efforts to bring an end to the Israeli occupation based on the two-State solution on the 1967 borders and international legitimacy as per the relevant resolutions in order to achieve our national aspirations."
While he accused Israel of shunning negotiations with Palestinians and ignoring UN resolutions, he also criticised Washington for creating a deadlock for the peace process by its decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
He recalled his four meetings with US President Donald Trump and asserted that his administration had not made clear if it stood by a two-state solution for the Palestine-Israel problem.
The other two elements of his peace plan, Abbas said, required all parties not taking any action that prejudges the outcome of the negotiations. These include an end to settlement activities by Israel, and halting transfer of the US Embassy to Jerusalem, and Palestine refraining from joining other organisations, he said.
"We are ready to undertake the longest journeys to the farthest places in the world in order to realize our rights," he said. "But we are not ready to move one inch if anyone wants us to forsake these rights."
Israel's Permanent Representative Danny Danon rejected the charges made by Abbas and accused Palestinians of refusing to negotiate with his country, citing as an example the walkout by Abbas as he began to speak.
He said that whenever they were close to a settlement - as with former Prime Minister Yehud Barak in 2001, Palestine walked away.
He accused Palestine of encouraging violence and anti-Semitism and said these were the barriers to peace.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)
