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RAMALLAH, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who addressed a speech to the Palestinians on Saturday, said that the Israeli settlement on the territories of the state of Palestine will demise.
Abbas said in a speech aired on Palestine TV that the recent UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution 2334 had clearly called on Israel to halt all its settlement activities "without making any change to the demographic composition."
"The no changes include the character and the status of the land of the State of Palestine occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem," said Abbas, who lit the torch that marks the 52 anniversary of his Fatah Party in Ramallah.
Last week, 14 UNSC members voted in favor of a resolution that condemned Israeli settlement activities in the Palestinian territories and called on Israel to halt all settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Abbas said the Palestinians thank very much the four countries which applied the resolution for voting in the UNSC and also to the United States and to the countries which voted in favor of the resolution.
Abbas called for 2017 to be the year for the international recognition of the state of Palestine, adding "We hope that the new year will be the year of ending the Israeli occupation and establishing the independent Palestinian state."
The 82-year-old Palestinian leader stressed that the hands of the Palestinians "are still extended for peace," adding that the Palestinians won't accept anymore transitional solutions or accept a state with temporary borders.
Abbas slammed the current Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for what he termed as "its attempts to mislead the world's public opinion, while building up settlements that devote the status of one state."
Meanwhile, Abbas said the Palestinians "are awaiting with hope to the hold the international conference for peace in the Middle East in mid of January in Paris."
He also expressed the Palestinian leadership's readiness to work closely with the new U.S. administration, mainly with President-elect Donald Trump "in order to achieve peace in the region based on the two-state principle."
