PNN/Bethlehem

On Monday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas blamed Israel for all the ecological problems in the occupied Palestinian territories and stated that its ongoing violations of international law regarding preserving Palestine’s environment are a major challenge.

Abu Mazen delivered his speech at the Paris Climate Change conference, which was held at Le Bourget starting from November 30 and is expected to continue until December 11.

Abbas said that the Palestinian’s “resources are being usurped, our trees are being uprooted, our agriculture is being destroyed.”

He also told world leaders that the Palestinian Authority had made “great progress” in adopting climate change laws, but claimed that the “continued Israeli occupation and violation of international laws related to the environment” was challenging their implementation.

“Our meeting today coincides with the commemoration of 68 years of UN Resolution 181, stipulating the division of historic Palestine, to remind you of your responsibility in the implementation of this resolution and to our Palestinian people to gain their freedom and independence. “

As reported by Wafa News, Abbas mentioned a number of violations including, confiscating natural resources, destroying agricultural crops, uprooting trees, hindering developing vital infrastructure for Palestine, dumping all kinds of Wastes in Palestinians’ lands and polluting the groundwater through a system of a racial segregation, which violates of international law.

“It is no longer necessary to waste time in negotiations for the sake of negotiations, especially after successive Israeli governments have undermined all peace chances. This leads us to reaffirm once again that we cannot unilaterally continue in the commitment of implementing the peace process agreements,” Abbas reiterated a previous statement.

Abu Mazen affirmed that Palestinians will continue to build the state based on modern and democratic bases and they will not accept the continuation of the current situation or life under occupation and settlement activities.

According to Wafa News, Abbas extended appreciation to French President François Hollande, the government and the French people for the invitation to this conference and reiterated Palestine’s solidarity with the French people and sincere condolences to all countries affected by terrorism.

He said, “We strongly condemn these terrorist and barbaric acts, which require genuine efforts to combat terrorism in all its forms and everywhere in the world.”

His speech came just hours after when he and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shook hands on the sidelines of the summit in their first meeting since 2010. The meeting between the two leaders was very brief and they did not hold any form of official talks.

Later, Netanyahu said that the handshake with Abbas was “protocol. It’s important that world sees we are willing to talk. I have no illusions about Abbas.”

The heads of more than 150 nations kicked off 12 days of talks in search of an elusive pact that would indirectly restructure the world economy, weaning it off fossil fuels that stoke global warming.