Abbas calls for int'l peace conf. early next year

NEW YORK, Sept 25 (KUNA) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday called on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to convene an international conference early next year to launch "a genuine peace process" with all parties involved.
Abbas urged Guterres to work with the Middle East Quartet of mediators - the US, EU, UN and Russia, and the UN Security Council on a conference "with full authority and with the participation of all concerned parties, early next year, to engage in a genuine peace process." The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with east Jerusalem as its capital, all territory captured by Israel in 1967.
"There will be no peace, no security, no stability and no coexistence in our region while this occupation continues and a just, comprehensive solution to the question of Palestine, the core of the conflict, remains denied," Abbas told the 193-member UN 75th General Assembly in a video pre-recorded speech due to COVID-19.
The Palestinian leader added, "they will continue to build and consolidate the institutions of our state on the basis of the rule of law, and we will continue to fight international terrorism as we have been during all the past years, and we will remain loyal to peace, justice, human and national dignity, whatever the circumstances," he concluded. (end) asf.hb