Abbas calls on America to pay more attention to Palestinian cause

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has called on the United States not to give too much attention to the Iranian nuclear deal at the expense of the Palestinian cause, Anadolu reported on Wednesday. His remarks were made during an emergency meeting of the Arab Peace Initiative Committee.

“Nothing might happen regarding the peace process until the end of this year,” said Abbas. “We the Palestinians are with the Arabs and adopt what the Arabs decide.”

He called on the US not to use the Iranian nuclear deal as a pretext to turn its back on the Palestinian cause. If the agreement with Tehran is sorted out in Congress, he said, it would give the US time to pay more attention to Palestine.

The PA president also used his speech to call on Hamas to negotiate over the formation of a national unity government and the holding of presidential and parliamentarian elections. Stressing that the current situation is “unbearable”, he insisted that this should be done as soon as possible.

“We are ready to negotiate a national unity government,” he claimed, “then to hold parliamentarian and presidential elections.” He asked everyone to persuade Hamas towards his view.