Abbas also criticized the United States’ brokering of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, saying in the interview, conducted on Friday and broadcast on Sunday by Egyptian news network al-Qahira, “since the United States stuck its hand in the Palestine dossier, not a single step forward has been taken.”
Going further back in history, Abbas claimed that the United States was largely behind the Balfour Declaration — the 1917 statement by the British government in favor of a “national home for the Jewish people”– and that the United States asked Great Britain to end its mandate in Palestine in order to implement its own de facto control over the area.
Despite what Abbas characterized as the American government’s slant toward Israel, the PA president said that increasingly many Americans, particularly American Jews, opposed Israeli policies. “Many Americans do not accept America’s position and American Jews for the last year or two have been saying that Israel is tilting towards racism. Ninety percent of the synagogues in America do not believe in Israel’s policy.”
In his interview, Abbas also criticized the United Nations — though he said the Palestinians would seek full membership in the world body — and affirmed his commitment to soon hold Palestinian Authority legislative elections, which would be the first since 2006. READ MORE
