Now we have a state - Abbas

RAMALLAH : Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas returned home to a hero’s welcome on Sunday after winning upgraded UN status, even as Israel imposed reprisals that UN Chief Ban Ki-moon said dealt an “almost fatal blow” to any peace prospects.

“Now we have a state,” Abbas told cheering crowds at his headquarters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.” “Palestine has accomplished a historic achievement at the UN,” he added, three days after the United Nations General Assembly granted the Palestinians non-member state observer status in a 138-9 vote.

“The world said in a loud voice... yes to the state of Palestine, yes to Palestine’s freedom, yes to Palestine’s independence, no to aggression, no to settlements, no to occupation,” Abbas told the ecstatic audience. In Ramallah, Abbas pledged that after the victory at the United Nations, his “first and most important” task would be working to achieve Palestinian unity and reconciliation between his Fatah faction and the Hamas rulers of Gaza.

“We will study over the course of the coming days the steps necessary to achieve reconciliation,” he said, as the crowd chanted: “The people want the end of the division.” In Gaza, Hamas official Salah Bardawil said the Islamist group was calling “for urgent meetings to achieve reconciliation.” The return was a moment of triumph for Abbas, who last year tried and failed to win the Palestinians full state membership at the United Nations.

Abbas was received with a full honour guard, descending from his car to walk along a red carpet at the Ramallah presidential headquarters known as the Muqataa, where he shook hands with waiting dignitaries.

He laid a wreath and said a brief prayer at the grave of iconic Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who is buried inside the presidential complex, later dedicating the UN victory to the former president’s memory.

“Our people everywhere, raise your heads up high because you are Palestinians,” he said. “You are stronger than the occupation... because you are Palestinians.

Abbas’s return drew supporters from across the West Bank, including Bajis Bani Fadl from the northern town of Nablus.

AFP