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              Netanyahu Expected to Respond to Abbas in UN Speech

   by VOA News

   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to take the podium at
   the United Nations General Assembly in New York Thursday, a day after
   Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told the gathering that the
   Palestinians are no longer bound by the two-decade-old Oslo peace
   agreements with Israel.

   In his speech to the U.N. Wednesday, Abbas called on the world body to
   provide international protection for Palestinians and accused Israel of
   refusing to release Palestinian prisoners while creating new Israeli
   settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

   Abbas told the U.N. that Palestinians could not continue to honor the
   1993 peace accord and "Israel must assume fully all its
   responsibilities as an occupying force." Abbas added that Palestine
   deserves full membership at the U.N. and recognition as a state.

   Netanyahu retorted swiftly to the words of Abbas by calling the speech
   "deceitful" and adding that it "encourages incitement and destruction
   in the Middle East." He called on the Palestinian leader to "act
   responsibly" and engage in peace talks without preconditions.

   The Palestinian leader made his demands ahead of a ceremony to raise
   the black, white, green and red Palestinian flag at the world body for
   the first time, placing it alongside those of the U.N.'s 193 member
   states.

   He called on "those countries that have not recognized the state of
   Palestine yet, to do so."
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/netanyahu-expected-to-respond-to-abba
   s-in-un-speech/2986942.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/netanyahu-expected-to-respond-to-abbas-in-un-speech/2986942.html