Netanyahu: Abbas’s speech was deceitful, direct talks best way forward

Israeli prime minister is already in New York, where he is expected to address the UN General Assembly on Thursday

JPost

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday was filled with falsehood and promoted incitement, charged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Office as Israel once again called on the Palestinian leader to resume direct talks.

“Abu Mazen’s speech was deceitful and encourages incitement and lawlessness in the Middle East,” the PMO said.

Netanyahu is already in New York, where he is expected to address the UN General Assembly on Thursday evening Jerusalem time.

The reaction released by his office, did not respond to Abbas’s threat to dissolve the 1993 Oslo Accords that govern relations between the Israel and the PA.

But the PMO did address Abbas’s opening statements at the start of his speech, in which he accused Israel of trying to violate the status quo on the Temple Mount by allowing Jewish visitors to the site.

The compound which houses the Aksa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, is under the custodianship of Jordan and the Islamic Wakf, but Palestinians fear that Israel wants to seize control of the area.

“In contrast to the Palestinians, Israel is strictly maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount and is committed to continuing to do so in accordance with the agreements between us and the Jordanians and the Waqf” the PMO said.

“We expect and call on the [Palestinian] Authority and its leader to act responsibly and accede to the proposal of the Prime Minister of Israel and enter into direct negotiations with Israel without preconditions,” the PMO said.

“The fact that he – time and again – has refused to do so is the best possible proof of the fact he does not intend to reach a peace agreement,” the PMO said.

In an opinion piece Abbas published on Tuesday in the Huffington Post, he said that the Palestinians could not hold bi-lateral talks with Israel as long as it was an “occupying power’ and that the only way forward was through a multilateral process.

The peace process has been frozen since the last US led effort fell apart in April 2014.