Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, encouraged by increasing global support for Palestinian statehood in the face of persistent Israeli aggression, on Thursday denounced Hamas and pledged to work with US President Donald Trump to establish a UN-approved peace plan.
Delivering his speech through video link from where he had been excluded from attending the UN General Assembly's high-level session in New York, Abbas said, "Palestine is ours. We will not leave our land. We will not leave our homeland. Our people are rooted like the olive trees."
He stated that he was ready to collaborate with the US, France, and Saudi Arabia to implement the peace plan approved by the UN General Assembly last week, where more than 150 states acknowledged Palestine's statehood.
"There can be no justice if Palestine is not free," Abbas reiterated while stressing Palestine's acceptance of Israel.
Addressing Hamas, which carried out an attack on Israel in 2023 killing more than 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, he remarked, "don't represent the Palestinian people."
He called on Hamas to release the hostages it still holds and demanded that it, along with other factions, disarm.
"We do not want an armed state," he stated.
Abbas continued, "If Palestine Authority is left to rule Gaza when the war ends, Hamas and other groups have to surrender their weapons to it and will be excluded from having any role there."
Israeli officials have argued in favor of the annexation of the West Bank and Gaza, risking the potential for a Palestinian state through the UN-approved two-state solution.
Trump, in a move reported by the media, based on sources at a Tuesday meeting, promised Arab and Muslim leaders that he would not permit Israel to annex Palestinian land—a retreat from his previous offer to seize Gaza and rebrand areas of it as a resort.
Still, Trump has stood against a two-state solution and the Palestinian recognition, including that of allies like Britain and France.
Abbas spoke before the session from a blue-desk podium with UN logos and the words "80th Session of the UN General Assembly" printed behind him.
Many world leaders who preceded him called for support for Palestine.
He also denounced what he termed Israel's "genocide" and settlements expansion in the West Bank and proposed to send an Arab and international presence to safeguard Palestinians when Israel retires from Gaza at the war's end.
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