Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud AbbasReuters

Hours after he shook hands with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the first time in five years, Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Monday used his speech at the UN climate conference in Paris to attack Israel.

"The Israeli occupation continues to violate international laws related to the preservation of the environment, which is the main challenge for our operations in this matter," he charged.

"[The occupation] takes control of natural resources, destroys crops, uproots our trees, does not allow us to complete the development of infrastructure essential to our country, throws garbage of various types on our soil, contaminates our water, and all this as part of a regime of racial discrimination which contradicts international law," claimed Abbas.

The PA chairman called on the countries that support the two-state solution to recognize the “state of Palestine”, and went on to claim that the PA wants peace.

"Our hands are extended for peace with our neighbors - a just peace based on our right and in accordance with international law," Abbas said, warning that "our people will not agree to continue the status quo and live in the shadow of occupation and settlement."

Abbas’s comments with respect to his desire for peace are puzzling, given his “diplomatic offensive” against Israel which started last year, when the PA applied to join international institutions in breach of the conditions of the talks that were taking place at the time.

Since that time, the PA has attempted to prosecute Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC), having several times submitted to the court “evidence” of alleged Israeli “war crimes” against Palestinian Arabs.

At the same time, Abbas has refused to resume talks with Israel and has continuously imposed new preconditions on talks, even after Netanyahu declared he was willing to meet with him. He has also personally incited to violence against Israelis.

Furthermore, Abbas himself recently admitted to Israeli television that he rejected "out of hand" an offer from former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for a PA state on nearly 95% of Judea and Samaria.