UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Abbas presided over the packed, slightly chaotic ceremony against a backdrop of stalemate in the peace process and escalating tensions at holy sites in Jerusalem.
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“May the raising of this flag give rise to the hope among the Palestinian people and the global community that Palestinian statehood is achievable”, he said.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas officiated at the ceremony minutes after delivering a speech to the UN General Assembly in which he accused Israel of sabotaging efforts by the United States to broker a peace deal.
However, Israel has actively tried to prevent a two-state solution, Abbas said as he rejected the idea of more wasteful negotiations and asked the U.N.to provide global humanitarian protections for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation “before it is too late”.
Mainly, he was talking about the Oslo peace accords, which Mr. Abbas’s predecessor, Yasir Arafat, signed in 1993 and 1995 with Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli leader who was later assassinated by an extremist Jew.
The Palestinians campaigned for a General Assembly resolution, overwhelmingly approved on September 10, that allows United Nations observer states to fly their flags alongside those of the 193 U.N. member states.
“Palestine, which is an observer state in the United Nations, deserves full recognition and full membership,” he said.
Netanyahu’s office also called on the Palestinian Authority and Abbas to “act responsibly” and join Israel in direct negotiations without preconditions.
Mahmoud Habbash, a senior adviser to Abbas, warned that the Palestinians “will not work as employees of Israel” in maintaining the agreements, according to the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency.
Mouin Rabbani, senior fellow with the Institute for Palestine Studies, said Abbas’ speech is the result of “a failure of strategy, of vision, and represents the terminus of this form of politics”.
Mr Netanyahu is expected to address the United Nations on Thursday and call on Palestinians to stop “incitement to violence“.
Palestinian analyst Hani al-Masri in Ramallah said Abbas is trying to attract attention and pressure Israel.
” His address to the General Assembly, expected at 12:00 pm (1600 GMT), will be closely watched for clues about his intentions at a time of growing volatility”.
The Oslo Accords also established economic and security coordination between Israelis and Palestinians, leaving the questions of borders and Jerusalem for future negotiations.
The accords resulted in the formation of the Palestinian Authority, a body that, over a five-year period, was meant to assume responsibilities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, to be followed by talks on borders, the right of return of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem. “The Security Council is unlikely to push Israel towards a two-state solution”.
Dore Gold, Israel’s Foreign Ministry director, said in an interview reported in the New York Times, “Israel does uphold its agreements”.
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“Abbas has no plan, otherwise he could have spelled it out in his speech”.
