Amid the ongoing conflicts between Palestine and Israel, Mahmoud Abbas has announced that the Palestinian Authority will be reevaluating their relationship with the United States.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas termed the US veto at the UN Security Council against his country's request for full membership in the UN as "disappointing and irresponsible," saying the Palestinian leadership "will reconsider its relationship with Washington."
The president's remarks came in an interview with the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, which mostly criticized the US for thwarting an Arab resolution project demanding full Palestinian membership in the United Nations.
Abbas said the US vote in the Security Council "is disappointing, regrettable, shameful, irresponsible, and unjustified."
"The United States has violated all international laws and disregarded all promises regarding the two-state solution and achieving peace in the region," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the official Palestinian news agency WAFA on Saturday.
The US must recognize that the region will not stabilize without a just solution to the Palestine issue, Abbas continued.
"We will reconsider bilateral relations with the United States to ensure the protection of our people's interests," he said.
He also criticized Washington's support for Israel, for example by supplying the country with weapons during the Gaza war.
Abbas, who is not very popular among Palestinians, described the US veto in the UN Security Council as disappointing and irresponsible.
The Palestinian leadership would develop a new strategy to advance the Palestinian cause, he pledged.
A resolution in favour of full membership for a Palestinian state at the United Nations failed in the UN Security Council on Thursday due to a veto by the US.
The US government's position is that an agreement with Israel on a two-state solution is a prerequisite for recognizing full UN membership.
An application for full UN membership for a state of Palestine had already failed in the Security Council in 2011. Of the 193 UN member states, 139 have so far recognized Palestine as an independent state. Germany is not one of them.
