Palestinians say Warsaw meet ‘normalizes occupation’

After PA refused to attend Middle East conference, adviser to Abbas complains US is denying Palestinian right to self-determination by siding with Israel

By AFP 14 February 2019, 1:50 pm

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, arrives for a session at the conference on Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw, Poland, February 14, 2019. (AP/Czarek Sokolowski)

A Warsaw conference jointly organized by US President Donald Trump’s administration lacks credibility as it aims to “normalize” the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, a Palestinian official said in remarks published Thursday.

“By fully siding with the Israeli government, (the Americans) have tried to normalize the Israeli occupation and the systematic denial of the Palestinian right to self-determination,” Nabil Shaath, an adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas, wrote in a column published by the Haaretz daily.

The two-day conference, which convened for its main session in the Polish capital on Thursday, is officially devoted to security in the Middle East, with a strong emphasis on Iran.

But Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is expected to offer hints of the US administration’s proposals for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Nabil Shaath, the Commissioner for External Relations of the Fatah movement, seen in his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, January 18, 2012 (photo credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90) — Nabil Shaath, the commissioner for external relations of the Fatah movement, seen in his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, January 18, 2012 (photo credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Shaath said the Palestinians had refused to go to the conference.

“The Warsaw conference is part of this context,” he wrote.

“A peace process cannot be turned into an attempt to obtain amnesty for war crimes or to make one of the parties surrender its basic rights under the UN charter,” Shaath said.

The Palestinians have refused to talk to the Trump administration since the US leader recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017.

The Trump administration has since dealt a series of harsh blows to the Palestinian Authority, including cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Palestinians.