Israel’s UN Ambassador spotlights PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ anti-American inflammatory rhetoric as latest excuse to avoid upcoming peace negotiations planned by White House for early 2018.
– WATCH PM Netanyahu address misplaced Palestinian entrenchment.

By Elad Benari

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, on Wednesday criticized the statement by Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

“The Palestinian Authority is doing all it can to avoid any chance for negotiations and is actively thwarting initiatives towards reconciliation,” Ambassador Danon said.

“The international community must not allow Chairman Abbas to evade direct negotiations yet again. It must be made clear to the Palestinian leadership that they must stop their dangerous incitement which threatens the stability of the region,” he added.

Abbas earlier on Wednesday blasted U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement last Wednesday in which he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Speaking in Istanbul at an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Abbas accused Trump of “giving away” Jerusalem to the “Zionist movement” by recognizing the city as Israel’s capital.

Trump, Abbas claimed, had given the city away as a “gift” to the “Zionist movement, treating it as if he “were giving away an American city.”

He added that the PA would no longer accept U.S. involvement in the negotiating process.

The White House later criticized Abbas’s comments, saying his inflammatory rhetoric has made peace harder to achieve for years.

The president remains as committed to peace as ever….This rhetoric, which has prevented peace for years, is not surprising, as we anticipated reactions like this. We will remain hard at work putting together our plan, which will benefit the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also slammed Abbas’s comments.

“It is better for the Palestinians to recognize reality and work for peace, not for radicalization, and to recognize another fact about Jerusalem: not only is it the capital of Israel, but we also maintain freedom of worship in Jerusalem for all religions and we are the only ones who keep this promise in the Middle East,” Netanyahu said.

(Click on ‘gear’, bottom-right, for English subtitles.)

He added that Israel was not impressed by the threats of Abbas or his aides.

“In the end, the truth will win and they will recognize that many countries will also recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and will also move their embassies there,” Netanyahu declared.

View original Arutz Sheva publication at:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/239300