Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas railed against Israel during an address to the European Union parliament in Brussels on Thursday, slamming the Jewish state for committing “mass-murder”.
The comments came hours after Abbas rebuffed efforts by EU President Martin Schultz to arrange a meeting between Abbas and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. While Rivlin accepted the offer, after having received authorization from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Abbas refused even a “brief meeting” with the Israeli leader.
Abbas said that the Palestinians were suffering mass-murder on a scale never seen before in history.
“Palestine and the Palestinian people are experience mass-murder of historic proportions and attacks the likes of which have never been seen or heard of ever by the international community.”
“The Israeli settlers and army have a continuing tendency towards violence and extremism that’s growing worse, both in what they do that is sanctioned by [Israeli] law and what is not sanctioned by [Israeli] law.”
The Palestinian Authority leader called upon the European Union to take action against Israel, saying it had turned the PA into an “open-air prison”.
“You are our friends, help us. Israel has turned our country into an open-air prison.”
Abbas claimed these were “black days” for the Palestinians, saying that the “tyranny and racism of the occupation” had worsened. He also demanded the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state with permanent borders, and threatened to continue efforts to “liberate Palestine”.
“Our right to self-determination is not up for negotiation,” said Abbas.
“We are working to free ourselves from the occupation politically and diplomatically”.