Abbas affirms readiness to work with Trump and others to implement Gaza peace plan

Italy’s Meloni under increasing pressure over Gaza

WEST BNK/ROME: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pledged at the United Nations on Thursday to work with U.S. President Donald Trump, Saudi Arabia, France and the United Nations on a peace plan for Gaza overwhelmingly backed by the world body.
The 193-member U.N. General Assembly earlier this month overwhelmingly endorsed a seven-page declaration that aims to advance a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians and end the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas militants.
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The declaration emerged from an international conference at the U.N. in July – hosted by Saudi Arabia and France – on the decades-long conflict. The United States and Israel boycotted the event and have rejected the international efforts.
Abbas addressed the annual gathering of world leaders on Thursday via video after the United States said it give him a visa to travel to New York.
“Despite all that our people have suffered, we reject what Hamas carried out on October 7th – acts that targeted Israeli civilians and took them as hostages — because such actions do not represent the Palestinian people nor their just struggle for freedom and independence,” Abbas said.
“We have affirmed — and will continue to affirm — that Gaza is an integral part of the State of Palestine, and that we are ready to assume full responsibility for governance and security there. Hamas will have no role in governance, and it – along with other factions – must hand over its weapons to the Palestinian National Authority,” he said. “We reiterate that we do not want an armed state.”
The points he raised are included in the declaration endorsed by the General Assembly.
“We declare our readiness to work with President Donald Trump, with Saudi Arabia, France, the United Nations, and all partners to implement the peace plan” backed by the General Assembly, Abbas said.

Meanwhile, with protests in the streets and a slew of Western nations recognizing a state of Palestine, Italy is finding it difficult to maintain its cautious position on the Gaza conflict.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government is “on the wrong side of history”, the main opposition party said this week, as countries including Britain, Canada and France recognized Palestinian statehood.
For months Meloni — unwilling to break ranks with US President Donald Trump — has insisted the time is not right.
This week, she signalled a shift, saying she was in favour of statehood on two conditions: the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and the exclusion of the militant group from Palestinian governance.
“Israel has no right to prevent the birth of a Palestinian state tomorrow,” she said in a speech to the UN Wednesday, in which she condemned Israeli attacks on Gaza as “disproportionate”.
Italy’s left-wing Repubblica daily acknowledged Thursday that “in terms of political symbols, the Meloni government has ended its immobilism”.
But that does not put it in line with Paris, it warned. Rather, Rome “is maintaining its own independent stance, similar to that of Washington and Berlin”.  Agencies