Mahmoud Abbas’s address to the UN Security Council: Rhetoric versus reality

On February 11, 2020, Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas delivered an address before the UN Security Council as part of the PA’s diplomatic campaign against the Trump plan [1] . Mahmoud Abbas’s address was softened and aimed mainly at Western ears: he avoided threatening to harm relations with Israel or dismantle the PA (threats that he and senior officials in the PA have made on several occasions). He presented a façade that

Palestinians were striving for a “just peace” based on a two-state solution within the 1967 borders, in non-violent ways. Mahmoud Abbas completely rejected the Trump plan (“the US-Israeli deal”), stressing that the Palestinians would not accept the plan. However, he noted that he was ready to negotiate with Israel, with international mediation or even without intermediaries, based on a two-state solution within the 1967 borders.

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