RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is calling Israel’s demolition of several dozen Palestinian homes on the outskirts of east Jerusalem “ethnic cleansing” and says he will take steps to terminate all agreements with Israel.
Abbas issued a statement following a meeting of PLO leaders in Ramallah on Thursday. The president said he would form a committee to advance ending all signed agreements with Israel, but it wasn’t clear such a move had a timeline.
The president’s remarks came three days after Israel leveled several buildings it says were built too close to its West Bank separation barrier after a years-long legal battle.
Abbas restated his opposition to President Donald Trump’s “Deal of the Century” between Israel and the Palestinians, and said that “Palestine and Jerusalem are not for sale or bargain.”
FILE – In this Sept. 14, 2010 file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, meet in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. As Netanyahu becomes Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, he is solidifying his place as the country’s greatest political survivor and the most dominant force in Israeli politics in his generation.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool, File)
