(AFP Photo)
In a “surprise” move, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to request that the United Nations implement the provisions of the 1967 borders, including the evacuation of Israeli troops from the Palestinian territories.
Abbas said on Saturday he would present a “diplomatic surprise” in the next week, but ruled out a declaration of war on Israel.
The Palestinian president intends for his plan to be implemented after the current Gaza crisis is ended via a political solution, according to Palestinian state news agency WAFA. Abbas stressed that all Palestinian factions are committed to the Egyptian initiative of 14 July, which remains the basis of the currently stalled indirect talks.
The two-state solution along the 1967 borders is the most widely accepted solution to the decades old conflict and supported internationally. The presence of Israeli settlements in areas of the West Bank infringe upon the territorial line, also known as the Green Line.
Abbas’ decision came following meetings in Doha with Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Meshaal and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in Cairo. Abbas told WAFA that Al-Sisi offered to train members of the presidential guard in order to man the Rafah border crossing.
The fighting in the densely populated Gaza Strip continued into Monday as Egypt continued to wait for a response to its call for an indefinite ceasefire.
The death toll in Gaza since 8 July rose to at least 2,120, with at least 67 killed on the Israeli side, including one foreign national.
