Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: We No Longer Consider Ourselves Bound by Any Agreements with Israel, America

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a May 19, 2020 address, which was aired on Palestine TV that the Palestinian leadership has decided to no longer consider itself bound by any agreements or understandings – including security agreements – with Israel or the United States. He emphasized that Israel is occupying Palestinian land, that the PA views the U.S. as Israel’s main partner in hostile and unjust decisions against the Palestinians, and that the PA only opposes the U.S. administration and the "colonialist" and "settler" America, rather than the American people as a whole. In addition, President Abbas said that the PA has taken actions to join international organizations and to be recognized as the State of Palestine. He said that the PA is committed to solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict by means of a two-state solution, even with a third party on the border between Palestine and Israel, but that the PA will not accept the U.S. as the sole mediator in any negotiations. Furthermore, he saluted the Palestinian people for their steadfastness and unity, he stressed that the PLO is the only legitimate body representing the Palestinian people, and he promised that the PA will continue to pay salaries to the families of wounded Palestinians and of prisoners and martyrs. He also vowed to remain loyal to his promises until Palestine attains freedom, independence, and the right of return, and until it flies the flag of Palestine on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, on the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and in Jerusalem, which he said is the eternal capital of Palestine.

Mahmoud Abbas: "Today, the [Palestinian] leadership has decided the following: The PLO and the State of Palestine, as of today, are no longer bound by all the agreements and understandings with the two governments - the American and the Israeli. [We] are no longer bound by all the commitments that stem from those agreements and understandings and this includes the security agreements

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"From now on, the Israeli occupation authority should bear all the commitments and responsibilities vis-a-vis the international community, because [Israel] is an occupation force on the occupied Palestinian land.

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"We hold the American administration fully responsible for the injustice done to the Palestinian people and we consider it to be a basic and main partner of the Israeli occupation government in all [its] hostile decisions and measures that are unjust to the rights of our people. Nevertheless, let's be realistic... Nevertheless, we welcome the positions of all the other Americans, who oppose the policies of this administration, which is hostile towards our people and their legitimate rights. We have heard statements by Americans in Congress and elsewhere who are opposed to this policy. We draw a distinction. We are not against the Americans as a people. We are against colonialist America, the America of the administration, settler America, the America that is hostile towards the Palestinian people and towards [all] the peoples on this Earth. But if someone is an American or has U.S. citizenship - we are not against him. We are against those who are against us.

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"We have decided today to complete signing the requests for the acceptance of the State of Palestine into the [international] organizations. We halted our joining of some organizations as part of an agreement, but now that we are no longer bound by it, we signed some of them yesterday.

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"We are committed to solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state solution. We are willing to accept a third party on the border between Israel and us. The negotiations to accomplish this must be held under the multi-party international auspices of the Quartet or Quartet Plus, but not America alone. We will not agree to having America [as the sole mediator].

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"I salute our people in the homeland and the diaspora for their perseverance, steadfastness, and struggle, and for their unity around the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of our people. It is the sole representative, not just the legitimate one. Why 'sole'? Because it is the only one. We are the only ones representing the Palestinian people. There is no one else. The others can assist us. The others - whoever they may be - can assist us, but the sole legitimate representative that speaks on behalf of Palestine is the PLO. We promise to our noble martyrs and to our heroic prisoners... They have now asked the banks not to pay to the prisoners, but we will pay the prisoners whether others like it or not. ...And our heroic wounded people. We promise to remain loyal to our pledge and to our oath until we attain victory, freedom, independence, and the return [of the refugees], so we can together fly the flag of Palestine on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, on the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and in our city of Jerusalem, the eternal capital of our state, Palestine."