Abbas at UN calls for end to "apartheid" for Palestinians

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas called Wednesday for an end to the "apartheid" that Israel had imposed on the Palestinians, local media reported.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Abbas warned that the new U.S.-led drive for peace talks resumption must not jettison the two-state solution.

"If the two-state solution were to be destroyed due to the creation of a one-state reality with two systems, apartheid, this would be failure," Abbas said in his speech.

"Can the world accept an apartheid regime in the 21st century?" he asked.

Abbas told the assembly that the international community must do for the Palestinians what was achieved for South Africa.

Abbas slammed Israel over the construction of new settlements "everywhere," saying they were putting the two-state solution in jeopardy.

The UN considers Israeli settlements illegal under international law and has repeatedly called for a halt to their expansion on land earmarked to be part of a future Palestinian state.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)