Abbas threatens ‘major diplomatic action’ against Israel alongside Tunisian president

Embattled politician says international pressure could force Israel to walk back policies on Jerusalem, slams practice of holding terrorists’ bodies for indefinite periods of time.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Palestinian Authority chair Mahmoud Abbas warned the Jewish State that he is gearing up to take major diplomatic action against Israel, during a fiery media conference alongside Tunisian President Kais Saied on Wednesday.

“We will never agree to the continuation of Israeli occupation and apartheid on our country and our people,” Abbas said.

“We will never accept the attacks on the identity, character and residents of East Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque (Temple Mount) and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and we will never agree to the continuation of the killings, the demolition of the houses, the abuse of our prisoners, the holding of the bodies of our martyrs and the continuation of the siege on the Gaza Strip.”

The embattled Palestinian politician, who is wildly unpopular among his constituents and has faced repeated protests and calls to resign, did not mention the wave of violent attacks on Jews in Jerusalem in recent weeks.

To illustrate what he called Israel’s callous attitudes towards Palestinians, Abbas spoke about Israel’s practice of holding the bodies of terror attack perpetrators for indefinite amounts of time.

“Can you imagine in your mind that Israel holds hundreds of bodies of martyrs for no purpose but to punish the martyrs’ families?” Abbas asked rhetorically.

Abbas’ choice of words, referring to terrorists who had violently attacked and killed Israelis as “martyrs,” is notable.

The Palestinian Authority, Abbas said, would soon take unilateral actions at “an international action” to force Israel to walk back its current policies, though he was vague on what that would actually entail.

“We are reaching out for peace… in order to bring an end to the occupation of the land of the State of Palestine and its capital, East Jerusalem,” he said.

“We will soon have ways of action and moves if the occupation authorities continue to suppress and act aggressively against our people and our country and our capital Jerusalem,” he continued.

“During the next month, the Central Council will convene to make decisions and we mean what we say. We no longer have the power to wait and we will make decisions that will benefit our people within the framework of international legitimacy and we will not deviate from it.”

On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would be willing to strengthen ties with Israel if the Jewish State shows greater “sensitivity” towards the Palestinians.

Erdogan was quoted by AP as saying during a meeting in Qatar that “Israel needs to be sensitive about Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque.”

“As soon as we detect the sensitivities, we will do our best and take steps” to improve Israel — Turkey ties, he added.

Israel-Turkey relationsJerusalemMahmoud AbbasPalestinian AuthorityTerrorTunisia