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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with Chancellor Olaf Scholz
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CLEMENS BILAN v EPO
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas caused a scandal at a joint press conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
In the Chancellery, Abbas accused Israel of a "Holocaust" against the Palestinians.
"Israel has committed 50 massacres in 50 Palestinian locations since 1947 to date," Abbas said.
"50 massacres, 50 holocausts," he added.
Abbas had previously been asked by a journalist whether he would apologize to Israel on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Israeli Olympic team by Palestinian terrorists in Munich.
Abbas said there were dead people killed by the Israeli army every day.
“If we want to continue digging into the past, yes please.” Abbas did not respond to the Olympic attack in which eleven Israelis were killed.
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The grin has passed: Olaf Scholz at the press conference with Abbas
Photo: IMAGO/Bernd Elmenthaler
Scholz followed the statements with a petrified expression, visibly annoyed and also made preparations to reply.
His spokesman Steffen Hebestreit declared the press conference over immediately after Abbas' reply.
The question to the Palestinian President had previously been announced as the last.
Hebestreit later reported that Scholz was outraged by Abbas' statement.
Scholz had previously criticized Abbas on the open stage for describing Israeli politics as an "apartheid system".
"I want to say explicitly at this point that I do not adopt the word apartheid and that I do not think it is right to describe the situation," said Scholz.
Scholz against full recognition of a Palestinian state
The "conversion to the new reality of a single state in an apartheid system" does not serve security and stability in the region, Abbas had said.
Scholz said at the press conference that he did not want to advocate full recognition of an independent Palestinian state.
Germany continues to support a two-state solution, said Scholz.
Abbas had urged the EU and the UN to fully recognize the Palestinian state.
The Palestinian Authority currently has observer status at the UN, said Scholz.
"It's not the time to change this situation," said Scholz.
Further steps would have to be based on a negotiated solution with Israel.
Abbas accused Israel of preventing this for a long time.
His government will make a new push for recognition at the UN.
The Palestinian President also expressed his disappointment that the USA had not taken any steps for a new Middle East initiative after the visit of US President Joe Biden.
"We are still waiting for practical steps to follow the words," he said, referring to Biden, who had also advocated a two-state solution.
Abbas also criticizes the fact that hundreds of resolutions by the UN General Assembly and dozens by the UN Security Council on the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians have not been implemented.
Scholz criticized the fact that no elections had taken place in the Palestinian territories since 2006.
Among other things, Abbas makes it a condition that elections can also take place in East Jerusalem.
Both Israelis and Palestinians lay claim to East Jerusalem.
The peace process has been idle since 2014.
fek/Reuters