President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, announced on Saturday that the Palestinian Authority would “reassess its relationship” with Washington following the U.S. veto against Palestinian membership in the United Nations on Thursday.
“The Palestinian leadership will reconsider bilateral relations with the United States to ensure the protection of our people’s interests, our cause, and our rights,” Abbas said in an interview with Palestinian news agency Wafa.
He added that the Palestinian leadership “is going to develop a new strategy to protect Palestinian sovereign decisions and follow a Palestinian agenda rather than an American vision or regional agenda.”
This came after the United States used its veto at the UN Security Council to block Palestine’s pursuit of full membership at the United Nations.
The U.S veto “has generated unprecedented anger among the Palestinian people and the region’s populations, potentially pushing the region towards further instability, chaos, and terrorism,” President Abbas warned.
The Palestinian President said that US veto “constitutes a blatant aggression against the rights, history, land, and sanctities of the Palestinian people, challenging the will of the international community.”
Since 2012, the Palestinians have held the status of “non-member observer state” at the UN, and had requested the Security Council to upgrade it and allow a Palestinian State, already recognized by the majority of nations, to take its legitimate place within the United Nations.