AMMAN: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in New York with the aim of convincing the world that Palestinians genuinely want peace through negotiations but that future talks should not be led solely by the US.
During his speech at the UN Security Council on Tuesday, he clearly succeeded in the first aim, but the second remains elusive.
Khalil Jahshan, executive director of the Arab Center Washington DC, told Arab News that Abbas “drove home the point of Palestinians wanting peace through negotiations, but this was a speech that should have been made 10 years ago.”
But he said the perception of Abbas’ departure before the Israeli and American ambassadors to the UN addressed the council was not encouraging.
“I concede he lost that small PR battle, but what is needed is substantive results and that doesn’t look good,” Jahshan said.
In his 33-minute address to the Security Council, the Palestinian president succeeded in reflecting the Palestinian desire for peace through negotiations.
Using the term “negotiations” 15 times, Abbas drove home Palestinian willingness to negotiate a peace deal. But the jury is still out on whether he succeeded in convincing the US and Israel to allow any other international party to co-chair future peace efforts.
Abbas came to New York after a global tour that took him to major European, Asian and African capitals with the aim of convincing major world powers to create a new peace formula.
The official Fatah spokesman and former UN envoy, Nasser Al-Qudwa, said Palestinians will accept any approach, except one with the US solely in charge.
“We can live with different formats, with P5, P5+, we can live with expanded quartet, and we can live with an international peace conference — anything that can do the job, provide the reasonable basis for negotiations, follow up the process, and sponsor it until it successfully concludes,” he said.
Anees Sweidan, head of external relations in the PLO, told Arab News that the US was not interested in peace talks. “They want to dictate an agreement and not to actually conduct talks about it.”
Abbas had managed 65 days without any face-to-face meetings with US officials following President Trump’s Dec. 4 announcement that the US embassy would be moved to Jerusalem, a decision that angered Palestinian, Arab and global leaders.
During this period the Palestinian Central Council sharply reduced contact with Israel on economic and security matters.
Following his speech, an unhappy Abbas left the Security Council hall without waiting to hear from the US or Israel.
After attacking Abbas and Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian negotiator, and siding only with the suffering of the Israelis, the US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said that the American negotiating team is ready to talk but that the US will not seek out the Palestinians.
Israel’s UN representative Danny Danon criticized the Palestinian leader, saying that all Abbas had to do was travel 12 minutes to meet the Israelis instead of traveling 12 hours by plane to New York.
Marwan Muasher, a former Jordanian foreign minister and current vice president of studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Affairs, told Arab News that Abbas has taken a difficult path by insisting on peace talks while rejecting the US as sole arbiter.
“While some might argue that the Americans are the only game in town in as far as the ability to get Israel to engage, it is clear Abu Mazen (Abbas) is not ready to play,” he said.
Abbas has stuck with the negotiations track and the UN, even though “we all know that it will be futile,” Muasher added.
Abbas treads a difficult path in bid to thwart US peace role
Abbas treads a difficult path in bid to thwart US peace role
Ceasefire with Kurdish-led force extended for another 15 days, Syrian army says
- The defense ministry said the extension was in support of an operation by US forces to transfer accused Daesh militants to Iraq
- The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces confirmed the ceasefire extension
RAQQA, Syria: Hours after the expiration of a four-day truce between the Syrian government and Kurdish-led fighters Saturday, Syria’s defense ministry announced the ceasefire had been extended by another 15 days.
The defense ministry said in a statement that the extension was in support of an operation by US forces to transfer accused Daesh militants who had been held in prisons in northeastern Syria to detention centers in Iraq.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces confirmed the ceasefire extension.
“Our forces affirm their commitment to the agreement and their dedication to respecting it, which contributes to de-escalation, the protection of civilians, and the creation of the necessary conditions for stability,” the group said in a statement.
Over the past three weeks, there have been intense clashes between government forces and the SDF, in which the SDF lost large parts of the area they once controlled.
Earlier in the day, the Kurdish-led force called on the international community to prevent any escalation.
The end of the truce came as government forces have been sending reinforcements to Syria’s northeast.
Syria’s interim government signed an agreement last March with the SDF for it to hand over territory and to eventually merge its fighters with government forces. In early January, a new round of talks failed to make progress over the merger, leading to renewed fighting between the two sides.
A new version of the accord was signed last weekend, and a four-day ceasefire was declared Tuesday. Part of the new deal is that SDF members will have to merge into the army and police forces as individuals.
The SDF said in a statement Saturday that military buildups and logistical movements by government forces have been observed, “clearly indicating an intent to escalate and push the region toward a new confrontation.” The SDF said it will continue to abide by the truce.
On Saturday, state TV said authorities on Saturday released 126 boys under the age of 18 who were held at the Al-Aqtan prison near the northern city of Raqqa that was taken by government forces Friday. The teenagers were taken to the city of Raqqa where they were handed over to their families, the TV station said.
The prison is also home to some of the 9,000 members of the Daesh group who are held in northeastern Syria. Most of them remain held in jails run by the SDF. Government forces have so far taken control of two prisons while the rest are still run by the SDF.
Earlier this week, the US military said that some 7,000 Daesh detainees will be transferred to detention centers in neighboring Iraq.
On Wednesday, the US military said that 150 prisoners have been taken to Iraq.
