President Mahmoud Abbas refused to meet with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Ramallah, today, Wednesday, in protest against the US administration’s use of its veto power against Palestine’s request submitted to the UN Security Council for full membership in the United Nations on the 18th of last month.

Blinken is discussing 3 files in Israel: the truce brokered by Egypt and Qatar between Tel Aviv and Hamas, the exchange of prisoners, ensuring the arrival of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, and a regional political solution.

Palestinian officials said that President Abbas refused to meet with Blinken on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum meetings in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and also refused to hold a meeting with him in the city of Ramallah.

The officials added that Abbas "wanted, with this position, to express Palestinian anger at the American positions that are absolutely biased towards Israel and refuse to make serious efforts for the Palestinians to obtain their right to an independent state on the 1967 borders, in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions."

12 of the 15 members of the Council voted in favor of the draft resolution submitted by Algeria on behalf of the Arab Group, while Britain and Switzerland abstained from voting, and the United States opposed it.

The Palestinian presidency at the time condemned the use of the American veto, describing it as “unfair, immoral, and unjustified, and defies the will of the international community, which strongly supports the State of Palestine obtaining full membership in the United Nations.”

The Palestinian Presidency considered, “This aggressive American policy towards Palestine, its people, and its legitimate rights represents a blatant aggression against international law, and encourages the continuation of the Israeli war of genocide against our people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, and further pushes the region to the brink of abyss.”

"Negative response"

The American "veto" was accompanied by a response described as "negative", presented by Blinken to the Arab Six-party group on the political paper, which called on the American administration to adopt a "credible and guaranteed path" to establish an independent Palestinian state within a specific period of time not exceeding 3 years.

Provided that during those three years, according to the Arab political paper, “practical steps will be taken to embody the state on the ground, including implementing what Israel dropped from the Oslo Accords, such as withdrawing from large additional areas of Palestinian rural areas, and stopping the invasion and storming of Palestinian Authority areas, And renegotiating the Paris Economic Protocol, which regulates Palestinian commercial and financial relations with Israel and the outside world, rebuilding the airport and port, and restoring Palestinian security to the crossings and others.”

Palestinian officials said that Blinken’s response to the Arab paper was characterized by “extreme negativity,” as he stressed that the path to establishing a Palestinian state takes place only through Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. Blinken criticized the paper because it did not specify any measures against the Hamas movement against the backdrop of October 7 attack.

During the ministerial meeting held in Riyadh last Saturday, the countries of the Arab Six-Party Group stressed "the necessity of ending the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, reaching an immediate and complete ceasefire, and ensuring the protection of civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law."

The six-party group added in a statement that the participants also stressed “lifting all restrictions that hinder the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, and expressed their support for all efforts aimed at international recognition of the independent Palestinian state, in a way that achieves the aspirations of the Palestinian people.”

They stressed “the importance of taking irreversible steps to implement the two-state solution, and to recognize the State of Palestine on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the relevant international resolutions,” stressing that “the Gaza Strip is an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territory,” and “ Their categorical rejection of any attempts to displace the Palestinian people outside their land, and any military operation in the Palestinian city of Rafah.”

At the meeting, the Arab foreign ministers warned of the continuation of “illegitimate Israeli measures” in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, which “undermine the two-state solution, including settlement expansion, land confiscation, military operations against Palestinians, settler attacks, and besieging the freedom of worship of Muslims and Christians.”

This meeting was chaired by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Riyadh, in the presence of Jordanian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri, Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization Hussein Al-Sheikh, and Diplomatic Advisor to the President of the UAE, Anwar Gargash. And the Minister of State in the Qatari Foreign Ministry, Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi.