In swipe at Abbas, Haley says Palestinian leader lacks ‘courage’ for peace

US Ambassador Nikki Haley took direct aim at Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, telling the United Nations Security Council that he lacks the courage needed for a peace deal.

Haley spoke soon after US President Donald Trump insisted that Palestinians had “disrespected” the United States and issued a new threat to cut aid, during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Davos, Switzerland.

The US remains “deeply committed” to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, Haley said, “but we will not chase after a Palestinian leadership that lacks what is needed to achieve peace.”

“[Abbas] rejected any American role in peace talks. He insulted the American president. He called for suspending recognition of Israel,” she added.

“Hate-filled speeches and end-runs around negotiations take us nowhere,” Haley said, referring to a fiery speech delivered by Abbas last week.

Haley said “peace will not be achieved without leaders with courage,” adding that an agreement would “require compromise.”

“Real peace requires leaders who are willing to step forward, acknowledge hard truths, and make compromises,” she said. “The United States remains fully prepared and eager to pursue peace.”

The US ambassador, who has strongly defended Israel at the United Nations, said Abbas had “insulted” Trump and had called for suspending Palestinian recognition of Israel after the US decision on December 6 to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Abbas canceled a planned meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence to protest the US decision on Jerusalem. The Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Also addressing the Security Council on Thursday, PA Ambassador Riyad Mansour said the search for peace had been Abbas’s “life’s work” and suggested attacks on the Palestinian leader were a form of “demonization.”

Mansour said the Palestinian rejection of the US decision on Jerusalem “is not intended as ‘disrespect'” but rather a “position rooted in full respect for the law, for the principles of justice and equity.”

The Security Council was meeting to discuss Israeli-Palestinian tensions for the first time since the General Assembly voted 128 to 9, with 35 abstentions, to reject the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. The vote was non-binding.

The US move broke with decades of international consensus that the city’s status should be settled as part of a two-state peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. Although Trump said at the time that his decision was not meant to prejudge the outcome of peace talks, he has since stated, including on Thursday, that the declaration took Jerusalem “off the table.”

The Security Council meeting also followed a US decision to freeze more than $100 million in funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees over the Palestinians’ refusal to engage in peace talks. The cuts have been criticized by European governments.