Palestinian Authority president announced in Cairo that he will discuss his ‘unconventional solution’ with Arab leaders in Ramallah before presenting ideas to Washington.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday that he might announce an “unconventional solution” for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas talks during a news conference in Egypt – Photo: REUTERS

In an interview with the Egyptian TV station Balad during his visit to Cairo, Abbas did not provide details about the proposed solution.

However, he said that he would discuss it with Palestinian leaders in Ramallah this week before presenting it to US Secretary of State John Kerry.

“It will be an unconventional solution, but I’m not going to declare war on Israel,” Abbas said. “I have diplomatic and political solutions.”

He said he did not expect the US to accept his new initiative.

“I don’t think they will comply, but we are going to go forward and tell them this is our position,” Abbas said, referring to the US Administration.

“When we went to the United Nations [to seek recognition of a Palestinian state], the US was objected. They were also against us going to the Security Council, General Assembly and 15 international treaties and conventions.”

Abbas said that although he respects the fact that the US “is a superpower and rules the world, there are issues were I can’t appease America despite my keenness to preserve our relationship. America helps us, but this does not mean that it has the right to hold hostage my decision.”

Abbas expressed hope that the Arab countries would support his initiative notwithstanding US opposition. “In the end, our Arab brothers will go with us,” he added.

A PA official in Ramallah said that Abbas’s initiative calls for envisages ending Washington’s “monopoly” over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by inviting involvement of other parties, including the UN.

The official said that the initiative seeks to “internationalize” the conflict so that Israel would come under heavy pressure to force it to comply with all UN resolutions pertaining to the problem.

Meanwhile, Abbas left Cairo on Sunday and headed back to Ramallah following talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi on ways of ending the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Abbas also met during his visit with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby.

View original Jerusalem Post publication at: http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Abbas-says-planning-to-announce-unconventional-solution-to-Gaza-conflict-372146