Palestinian President gives Israel one year to leave territory

Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas has given Israel one year to withdraw from occupied territory and threatened to withdraw recognition Israel if it failed to do so.

The President in a virtual address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) said, he would no longer recognise Israel based on pre-1967 borders, a cornerstone of three decades of failed peace efforts, if it refused to withdraw from the territories Palestinians want for a future state.

“We must state that Israel, the occupying power, has one year to withdraw from the Palestinian territory it occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem.

“If this is not achieved, why maintain recognition of Israel based on the 1967 borders,” Abbas said.

The Palestinian leader also called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to convene an international peace conference and expressed his willingness to work throughout the year on solving the final status of the states of Israel and Palestine in accordance with United Nations resolutions.

He added that the Palestinians were ready to go to the International Court of Justice on the issue of the legality of the occupation of the land of the Palestinian state.

Palestinians say Israel’s proposals would fail to grant them full statehood or resolve other core issues, including the fate of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem.

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Kamila/Al-Jazeera