Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told world leaders at the UN on Thursday that Palestinians “reject” the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and vowed the group would have no role in Gaza’s future governance. He spoke via video to the General Assembly after the US revoked his visa, days after France and other Western nations recognised a Palestinian state. Read our blog to see how the day’s events unfolded.
The veteran 89-year-old president of the Palestinian Authority was forced to address the General Assembly by video after the United States took the unusual step of denying him a visa to come to New York.
Abbas made clear he was different from Hamas, which took control of Gaza in 2007.
“Hamas will not have a role to play in governance. Hamas and other factions will have to hand over their weapons to the Palestinian National Authority,” Abbas said in a speech that received loud applause by delegates watching the video.
He distanced himself from the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 — the deadliest day ever for Israel, in which 1,219 people died, mostly civilians — as well as frequent accusations by Israel’s supporters that the Palestinians are denying the rights of Jews.
“Despite all that our people have suffered, we reject what Hamas carried out on October 7 — actions that targeted Israeli civilians and took them hostage — because these actions do not represent the Palestinian people, nor do they represent their just struggle for freedom and independence,” Abbas said.
“We reject confusing the solidarity with the Palestinian cause and the issue of antisemitism, which is something that we reject based on our values and principles,” he said.
Abbas nonetheless called the nearly two-year Israeli assault in Gaza “one of the most horrific chapters of humanitarian tragedy of the 20th and 21st century” — by implication putting it alongside the Holocaust against the Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 65,500 Palestinians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.
AFP
