Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud AbbasReuters

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas spoke before an African Union conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, calling on African countries to condition their relations with Israel on its ending the "occupation."

"The attempts of the Israeli occupying state to participate in your regional conference and to organize regional conferences encourage it to continue its arrogance, its occupation of Palestine and its denial of the rights of the Palestinian people with regard to freedom, sovereignty and independence, these are basic human values and principles..." said Abbas.

"We hope that there will be a link between any progress in the relations between the continent and Israel and its commitment to end its occupation of the land of Palestine which has been occupied since 1967 and whose capital is eastern Jerusalem,” he added.

"This year marks the 50th anniversary of Israel's occupation of the land of the State of Palestine in 1967 and marks 69 years since the expulsion of half of our people from their land in the massacres committed by Israel at the time of its establishment in 1948, and it still does not recognize its moral responsibility for this historical injustice which occurred due to the expulsion of an entire nation, in addition to the daily suffering that our people experience under occupation...”

"We strive to implement the solution of two states that will live side by side in security, peace and good neighborliness...We seek to build bridges with Israel in accordance with the legitimate international resolutions, security and peace for all, instead of building walls of racial segregation..." said Abbas.

"Resolving the problem of Palestine by way of a just solution is the key to peace and will undoubtedly contribute to removing the pretexts of the terrorist groups in the surrounding areas, and will benefit the region and the future of our generations and the security and peace in the world..."

"We are fully prepared to work with U.S. President Donald Trump to reach a historic peace agreement between us and the Israelis in accordance with the two-state solution and we want Israel to accept this initiative. We emphasized to President Trump the continuation of our full partnership with him in the fight against terrorism in our region and in the world,” the PA chairman claimed.