PA President Abbas
Photo: EPA
Abbas to Hamas: Keep children away from border riots
Palestinian president speaks at first Palestinian National Council conference since 1996, says doesn't want to see 'handicapped generation' in wake of protests; President Trump's 'deal of the century' is the 'end of the peace process,' Abbas adds; conference boycotted by various factions, including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas attacked Hamas during a Palestinian National Council (PNC) conference in Ramallah Monday evening, and called on the terror organization to stop placing children at the front of its "March of Return" protests.
"Keep the children away from border confrontations," Abbas appealed. "We don't want a generation with disabilities."
President Abbas appealed to Hamas to stop placing children at front of weekly protests (Photo: Reuters)
The PNC's conference will last for three days and convened for the first time in 22 years. The body, comprised of some 700 Palestinians members from across the world, elects the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)'s Executive Committee.
PA President Abbas opening the PNC's first conference since 1996 (Photo: EPA)
In his opening remarks, President Abbas reiterated his attacks against the administration of US President Donald Trump, the president's "deal of the century" and his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. "What's this deal?" Abbas wondered. "I have seen nothing. I would like to see, but have seen nothing. The deal is a slap. It's the end of the peace process."
("The Americans) will transfer their embassy to Jerusalem, which will be Israel's capital. The issue of refugees is off the negotiating table, as is the issue of settlements. What is there left to discuss? We abjectly refuse that. We will accept neither this deal nor the US as mediator," Abbas stated.
"If they present their plan, we'll say we support the two-state solution, with east Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine," the president concluded.
President Trump's peace push was a 'slap,' Abbas maintained (Photo: AFP)
The Palestinian National Council is officially a body of some import, but in reality it has held little sway over the PLO in more than a decade. While the PLC was convened for an irregular session in 2009 to elect some new members of the Executive Committee, its last official regular session took place in 1996.
The conference will culminate with elections for the Executive Committee for the first time in two decades. As the average age of council representatives is 70, younger generations enjoy no representation.
It appears Abbas—the driving force behind the PNC coming together again—wishes to inject new blood into the Executive Committee, while ensuring those elected will yield to him.
The official decision to convene the council came in the wake of President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as capital, but Palestinians have been more interested recently in boycotts of the convention by certain factions, some of which are members of the PLO and some of which—including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine—are not.
Ismail Haniyeh's Hamas boycotted the PNC's conference (Photo: AFP)
Hamas' decision to boycott the conference came despite the fact that members of Gaza-ruling group were initially invited to attend. The boycott came, it appears, as a result of the freeze and possible collapse of the stalled Palestinian reconciliation process and continued sanctions by Abbas against the strip and its residents.
Hamas spokesman in Gaza Mushir al-Masri said in that same vein, "The PNC's conference is illegitimate and does not represent the entirety of the Palestinian people. The Ramallah leadership has hijacked the Palestinian institutions."
