Abbas seeks super observer status for Palestinians

President Mahmud Abbas sought a new super observer UN status Thursday for Palestinians as he condemned Israel's settlement campaign in the occupied territories as "ethnic cleansing." One year after his emotional bid for full membership of the United Nations, Abbas returned to the UN General Assembly to warn that Israel's tactics were a sign that it "rejects the two-state solution." He called on the UN Security Council to pass a binding resolution setting out a path to end the two-year deadlock in talks between the Palestinians and Israel. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the speech as "libelous." Abbas also faced condemnation from the Hamas government in Gaza. But the Palestinian leader earned a new standing ovation from the UN audience. The Palestinians' bid for full UN membership has been blocked at the Security Council by the United States. So Abbas returned to seek a more modest strengthening of the Palestinians' existing UN observer status. He said he would seek a vote at the UN General Assembly in the coming months to approve Palestine as a "non-member state of the United Nations."  As a permanent Security Council member, the United States can veto any council resolution backing full membership for the Palestinians. But no country can block a resolution in the General Assembly, where an overwhelming majority of the 193 members states would back Abbas. "We are confident that the vast majority of the countries of the world support our endeavor, aimed at salvaging the chances for a just peace," Abbas said. Direct Israel-Palestinian negotiations have been frozen for two years. Abbas refuses talks, while Israel continues to build and approve new Jewish settlements. The United States condemns the Israeli construction but protects its close ally from UN criticism. "Developments over the past year have confirmed what we have persistently drawn attention to and warned of: the catastrophic danger of the racist Israeli settlement of our country, Palestine," Abbas said, lashing out at "attacks by terrorist militias of Israeli settlers."  He said the new settlements and in and around Jerusalem and demolition of Palestinian homes are "a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people." Israeli authorities say the houses they demolish are illegal but they have faced criticism from the United Nations and major powers. "We are facing relentless waves of attacks against our people, our mosques, churches and monasteries, and our homes and schools," Abbas said. "They are unleashing their venom against our trees, fields, crops and properties, and our people have become fixed targets for acts of killing and abuse with the complete collusion of the occupying forces and the Israeli government." Abbas said Israel's tactics could only lead to the conclusion "that the Israeli government rejects the two-state solution." The Palestinian leader called on the Security Council to "urgently adopt a resolution comprising the basis and foundations for a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that would serve as a binding reference and guide for all." He said such a move was crucial if the state solution "is to survive and if peace is to prevail in the land of peace." Netanyahu, who has strongly opposed Palestinian attempts to secure greater international recognition, responded that Israel wants "a durable peace with the Palestinians." "We won't solve our conflict with libelous speeches at the UN. That's not the way to solve them. We won't solve our conflict with unilateral declarations of statehood," he added. "We have to sit together, negotiate together and reach a mutual compromise in which a demilitarized Palestinian state recognizes the one and only Jewish state." Gaza's Hamas government also denounced the address by Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, who heads the rival Fatah group. "We repeat that it would be better for Abu Mazen to proclaim the death of the negotiations and of compromise," said Taher al-Nunu, a spokesman for the Hamas government, who called Abbas's address "emotional." Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat for his part accused Israel of not being genuinely interested in peace. "Netanyahu's speech reveals a lack of a true desire for peace. He doesn't talk about peace nor how to get there," he told AFP. "President Abbas's speech, however, was a speech seeking to make history, not headlines."