Abbas urges Arab support for Palestinians against "Israeli intransigence"

Mahmoud Abbas

CAIRO, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday called for Arab political and financial support for the Palestinian people against what he described as "Israeli intransigence."

"Israel has not respected its agreements with the Palestinian Authority since 1993," Abbas told an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League's headquarters in Cairo.

Israel has recently cut more than 138 million U.S. dollars of the Palestinian tax revenues used by the Palestinian Authority for running Palestinian affairs.

Under the Oslo peace accords signed by the two sides in 1993 and 1995, Israel collects taxes and customs duties from Palestinians and transfers around 1 billion dollars a year to the Palestinian Authority.

In his remarks in Cairo, the Palestinian president said the newly re-elected Israeli prime minister "does not believe in peace," as Israel has breached all its deals with the Palestinians including Oslo Accords and Paris Protocol on Economic Relations.

The decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been continuing since the Western-backed creation of Israel by occupying Palestinian territories in 1948.

"Israel hasn't implemented a single international resolution since 1948," Abbas lamented.

"The current challenges are the most dangerous ones in the history of the Palestinian cause," he said.

Earlier on Sunday, Abbas held talks with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi who reaffirmed Egypt's support for the Palestinian cause and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.