Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of not committing to peace agreements known as the Oslo Accords and declared that Palestine “cannot continue to be bound by these agreements.”
“They leave us no choice but to insist that we will not remain the only ones committed to the implementation of these agreements, while Israel continuously violates them,” Abbas said Wednesday in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly.
Abbas declared Palestine “a state under occupation.”
“We therefore declare that we cannot continue to be bound by these agreements and that Israel must assume all of its responsibilities as an occupying power, because the status quo cannot continue,” Abbas said.
The Oslo Accords are a series of peace agreements between Israel and the Palestinians signed in the 1990s.
Prior to his speech before the United Nations, Abbas had indicated he would be making a “bombshell” announcement.
His declaration came on a day when the Palestinian flag was raised for the first time at the U.N. building, in the Rose Garden.
The flag raising was symbolic and politically controversial.
Traditionally, only official member states had the right to have their flag up in front of the U.N. tower. The Palestinian Authority has nonmember observer status.
But the General Assembly earlier this month voted overwhelmingly to allow the Palestinians and the Vatican, another nonmember observer, to add theirs to the collection.
The Palestinians see this as another step toward solidifying their presence in the international arena.
But Israel, one of the eight countries that voted against the measure, has dismissed the Palestinian flag-raising as a photo op. The Vatican’s flag went up Friday without ceremony.