May 25, 2011
Abbas: Speech left ‘nothing to build on’
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brings Vice President Joe Biden, left, and House Speaker John Boehner to their feet during his speech to the U.S. Congress, May 24, 2011. (Avi Ohayon/GPO/Flash90 )
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said there was nothing for peace talks to build on in Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the U.S. Congress.
Abbas, speaking to the Palestine Liberation Organization and also with reporters on Wednesday in Ramallah, asserted that if no progress is made in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians that he will go to the United Nations General Assembly in September seeking recognition of a unilaterally declared Palestinian state.
Abbas said the Israeli prime minister’s speech “travelled far from peace,” and that it dictated final outcomes publicly instead of through negotiations.
“Our first choice is negotiations, but if there is no progress before September we will go to the United Nations,” Abbas said, according to AFP.
