Abbas addresses UN Security Council: what to expect

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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will address the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday, amid tensions with the US and Israel following a controversial decision by Washington to move its embassy to Jerusalem.

Here’s what to expect.

Key points

In his first speech since 2009 in front of the 15–member chamber, Abbas is expected to once again call for international recognition of a Palestinian state as well as a resumption of the Middle East peace process, although with different actors.

UN membership, international recognition

Palestinians have been seeking UN membership for years, as a stopgap until a Palestinian state is officially established. A prior attempt to gain membership in 2011 was vetoed by the US but in 2012, the Palestinians were granted non-member observer status, alongside the Vatican.

A rare "super blood blue moon" sets behind the city of Jerusalem, January 31, 2018. /VCG Photo

After the US recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December, reigniting tensions in the Middle East, Abbas said he would once again push for full UN membership.

“We will go once again and many times to get full membership. We are a state and an authority, and we have borders and we have the right to get the world’s recognition of us,” Abbas said in comments cited by The Jerusalem Post.

A senior Palestinian official, Mustafa Barghouti, was quoted by AFP on Monday saying he also expected Abbas to call for international recognition of east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Over 130 countries in the world already recognize Palestine as a state, according to its UN mission, but this does not include the US, Canada, Japan, Australia and most of the European Union.

Restart the peace process

Abbas will also push for Middle East peace negotiations to resume. These have been stalled for years. What shape or form they could take however remains open, amid a growing rift between the Palestinians on one side, and the US and Israel on the other.

In December, Abbas snubbed US Vice-President Mike Pence during his visit to the Middle East, prompting the US to threaten to cut funding to the Palestinians.

February 15, 2017: US President Donald Trump (R) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walk into the White House in Washington, D.C. /VCG Photo

New mediators

Abbas has backed down from his earlier calls to exclude the US entirely from new peace talks over its Jerusalem move, but is expected to call for expanding the circle of interlocutors.

"In case of an international meeting, we ask that the United States not be the only mediator, but just one of the mediators," Abbas said last week in Moscow.

One popular option would be the so-called P5+1 – the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany – which helped negotiate the 2015 Iran nuclear deal; or the Middle East Quartet, set up in 2002 and comprising the US, the EU, Russia and the UN.

"We can live with different formats, the P5, P5+1, expanded Quartet, we can live with an international peace conference," senior Palestinian official Nasser al-Qudwa told a news conference in Ramallah on Monday.

"Anything that can do the job, provide a reasonable basis for negotiation and follow up the process – sponsor it until it successfully concludes."

Palestinians carry placards as they protest against US President Donald Trump's announcement to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Gaza City, Gaza, January 30, 2018. /VCG Photo

Israel, however, might be reluctant to accept a widened field of mediators, as it has often accused the European Union and United Nations of being biased against it.

US criticism

Never one to miss an opportunity to take a shot at the US or at President Donald Trump, Abbas will no doubt use his UN pulpit to once again criticize Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem and defense of Israel.

Seeking support

Ahead of his UN speech, Abbas toured major capitals over the past few weeks to drum up support for Palestine’s recognition.

Last week, he was in Moscow to secure Russian President Vladimir Putin’s backing.

In late January, he visited Brussels to meet with EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini, who played a crucial role in the Iran nuclear talks and assured him of the EU’s commitment to a two-state solution with Jerusalem as a shared capital.

EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas talk during a meeting in Brussels, Belgium, January 22, 2018. /VCG Photo

A team set up with the Arab Ambassadors’ Council has also been meeting with Security Council members to garner support for Abbas’ agenda, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour told Voice of Palestine radio on Monday.

In December, Abbas already dispatched envoys to China and Russia to discuss a possible mediating role.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told them at the time that Beijing backed an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Call for action

Abbas has made regular appearances – most recently in September 2017 – at the wider UN General Assembly, which comprises all members of the international body, but this will be the first time in nine years that he speaks in front of the top decision-making Security Council.

Aside from his more specific demands, he will appeal to the Security Council in his speech to “shoulder its responsibilities… and put an end to the tragedy and injustice our people suffer as a result of the occupation,” said Mansour, quoted by the Palestine News Network.

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