by Our Foreign Desk

PALESTINIAN President Mahmoud Abbas called yesterday for necessary “multilateral” talks in the face of Israeli hostility to his country.

In an article published ahead of his address to the UN general assembly in New York, Mr Abbas said that negotiations should be based on those that took place in the Balkans, Libya and Iran.

Mr Abbas hailed the flying of the Palestinian flag at the UN as a moment of hope and pride for his people.

But he said that years of bilateral negotiations between Palestine and Israel had failed to move the occupied territories closer to freedom under a two-state solution.

In an article for the Huffing­ton Post website, Mr Abbas said that Israel had negotiated in bad faith and accused it of “blatant ethnic cleansing.” He recalled the recent horrific firebomb attack on a West Bank family by Israeli settlers.

“While the Israeli government pays lip service to the two-state solution internationally, domestically it employs policies aimed at destroying what’s left of Palestine,” he said.

“The peace process must be multilateral. The same pattern of negotiations imposed for years will not work because Israel is the occupying power.

“We cannot directly negotiate with a power that has this level of control and exhibits such contempt for the rights and existence of our people.”

Mr Abbas had threatened to drop a “bombshell” in his speech to the UN, prompting speculation he would sever formal ties with Israel over its settlement expansion and other oppressive policies.