Abbas urges action on displacement in UN address

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas used a prerecorded address to the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday to call for action against Palestinian displacement and press for a two-state solution, after the United States denied him a visa to attend in person for the second consecutive year. Speaking from Ramallah, Abbas urged U.S. President Donald Trump to honor what Abbas described as commitments to Arab countries to prevent displacement and annexation of Palestinian territory. He called on Washington to work with Palestinian leaders and the international community to pursue a two-state solution based on international law. Abbas accused Israel of causing killings, destruction, starvation and attempts to forcibly displace Palestinians in Gaza. Those claims were allegations made in his address and were not independently established in the reports. He also warned against another mass displacement, invoking the Nakba, the term Palestinians use for the mass displacement associated with the 1948 war.