Abbas urges that the US pursue justice for the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh

• Mahmoud Abbas urges the US to seek retribution.
• Akleh had Palestinian identity.
• She was also an American citizen.

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, has urged the US to seek retribution for the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh, an Al Jazeera journalist.

In remarks delivered on Friday at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Abbas noted that the woman “had Palestinian identity as well as being an American citizen.” “I defy the US to bring charges against those responsible for this American national’s death, but they won’t. Why? they are Israelis, therefore.

While Abu Akleh was on assignment in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, in May, Israeli troops shot her.

When she was slain, Abu Akleh was standing next to other journalists while donning a press vest. The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) obtained proof implicating Israeli forces while rejecting assertions that Palestinian fighters were present beside the journalist.

Israel first claimed that the journalist had been injured by gunfire. She may have been “accidentally hit” by Israeli army fire, according to the findings of an internal investigation, Israeli authorities said earlier this month.

According to the report, there was “no suspicion of a criminal offence,” hence there was no justification for opening a military police investigation.

Abbas said he was speaking “on behalf of more than 14 million Palestinians whose fathers and ancestors lived through the tragic Nakba 74 years ago and are still living the spillover of this Nakba, which is a humiliation for the entire humanity, especially for those who have conspired, planned, and executed this heinous crime.

“Unfortunately, because of the Israeli occupation actions, our faith in the possibility of establishing peace based on justice and international law is eroding,” he continued.

The UNGA address by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who supported a two-state solution and urged Muslim countries to recognize and make peace with the Jewish people, was the day before the speech.

We need to be able to change, but we also need to understand history, respect it, and learn from it. To choose peace over conflict, the future over the past, he said. “Arabs living in Israel are not our enemy; they are our lifelong allies.”

Israel “has opted not to be our partner in the peace process,” Abbas said in response to Lapid’s conciliation.

“Through intentional policies, it has systematically undermined the Oslo Accords and demolished the two-state solution. Israel is imposing a status quo through aggression and force, which indicates without a doubt that it does not believe in peace, he added.

“A frantic drive to take our lands, to create settlements, to loot our resources as if this land is empty,” the Palestinian leader charged Israel with. The army and the terrorist settlers, who are killing Palestinians in broad daylight, are given complete freedom.

He attributed Israel’s impunity on the UN and the US. “Do you know who is shielding Israel from responsibility? United Nations The most powerful member of the UN is also on top of that, he added. Why do they treat us differently from the others, and why are there double standards?