Abbas seeks legal, diplomatic action against Israel

Acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to take diplomatic and legal action against the “cancer” of Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In a speech on Tuesday in the West Bank city of Ramallah to mark the 49th anniversary of the founding of the Fatah movement, Abbas said that Palestine will use its rights as a UN observer to stop Israel’s expansionist agenda.

“We will not remain patient as the settlement cancer spreads, especially in Jerusalem (al-Quds), and we will use our right as a UN observer state by taking political, diplomatic and legal action to stop it,” he said.

“We have entered negotiations amid Israeli escalation on all fronts — the Israeli army steps up its hostilities against the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank, leading to the killing of dozens of citizens in the last few months,” Abbas added.

Abbas’s comments came ahead of a visit to the Middle East by US Secretary of State John Kerry, which begins on Wednesday.

Kerry is making the trip in order to try to convince Israel and the Palestinian Authority to agree on a framework for the so-called peace talks.

Tel Aviv’s refusal to stop building settlements is one of the stumbling blocks for the US-brokered direct talks.

On Sunday, a panel of Israeli cabinet ministers approved new legislation to annex the Jordan Valley region of the occupied West Bank.

In his speech, Abbas completely rejected Israel’s demand to maintain a military presence in the Jordan Valley.

“We have said that the Palestinian people is the one most in need of security, and is the one who needs guarantees of protection against the aggression of the occupation (Israel) and the settlers,” he stated.

Israel occupied and then annexed the West Bank and East al-Quds in the Six-Day War of 1967, but the move has never been recognized by the international community.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories 46 years ago.

The United Nations and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on occupied lands.