Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expected at the UN Security Council

Text by: RFI Follow

The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, is expected on February 11 in New York. The purpose of the visit is to garner almost unanimous support against the Trump administration's "vision" for an Israeli-Palestinian peace.

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With our correspondent in Ramallah, Alice Froussard

Monday evening, during a surprise turnaround, the Palestinians announced that they would give up the vote, for lack of sufficient international support, "so as not to humiliate themselves". But according to Saeb Erekat, the famous negotiator for the Oslo Accords, these rumors are unfounded. In any case, the arrival of Mahmoud Abbas at the UN is not called into question.

The President of the Palestinian Authority is keen to do so; he will address the General Assembly of the United Nations so that an international conference can facilitate negotiations between equals with Israel. It is in any case the beginning of a diplomatic offensive in which Mahmoud Abbas has still not given up hope.

He had already seen the flabbergasting of the Trump plan on his European allies who rejected him, but without shards, waiting to see his plan of attack. As a sign of the gravity of the situation, the unveiling of this plan had also forced the Palestinian factions to unite, even in the short term.

But Mahmoud Abbas' first formal success was in Cairo when the Arab League rejected the famous peace plan. Since then, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the African Union have done the same. And these are arguments that the President of the Palestinian Authority can put forward.

One thing is certain: the challenge of this trip to the UN is to get out of the political vacuum in which Abu Mazen has been engulfed for years. It remains to be seen what he will announce, what will remain of it.

And if he does not find himself alone again after declarations of principles, facing the American plan which will remain on the table, and will continue to agitate the region.

■ Report in Gaza

With our special envoys Hassan Jaber and Guilhem Delteil

There have been protests in the streets of Gaza denouncing the Trump plan. Just this Monday, two rallies were taking place. In one of the city's central squares, a few dozen women had thus responded to a call for mobilization launched by Fatah. Inès Abu Shaouich is a member of Mahmoud Abbas' party.

" We are sending a message to all Palestinian factions, whether national or Islamic, " she said , " that they must support President Abbas in his speech to the UN. He is the only representative of the Palestinian nation. "

But unity is not topical. A Fatah delegation in Gaza has yet to meet with the ruling Hamas in that territory. The Trump plan has not united the two major Palestinian parties, and the Islamist movement is asking Mahmoud Abbas to announce radical measures in his speech to the UN.

" What remains of the Oslo Accords today ?" The Israeli Minister of Defense has banned exports of Palestinian agricultural products to Israel and the Arab countries via Jordan. So we have to say "too much is too much". We can no longer deal with the Israelis on the basis of the Oslo Accords, ”says Bassem Naim, one of the executives of Hamas.

Ending the Oslo Accords is a threat already brandished by Mahmoud Abbas, but it is a step that the President of the Palestinian Authority is unlikely to take.

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• Palestinian Territories
• Donald trump
• UN
• Israel
• Mahmoud Abbas

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