Abbas: Israel’s war on Gaza is "genocide"

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, issued some of his strongest words yet against the war on Gaza.

“We are facing together a barbaric war of aggression and an open war of genocide against our people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,” he said in a speech marking the 35th anniversary of the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in Ramallah, Al Jazeera reports.

“It is a war against the existence of the Palestinians, against the Palestinian national identity, the identity of the land and the identity of its inhabitants.”

He went on to say the dead in Gaza “will be a curse to the occupation and to those who stand behind it or remain silent about the war crimes it commits against our people” – in a clear sign of exasperation at the silence of some in the international community.

“Palestine is our only homeland and we will not accept an alternative, and if there is anyone who must leave our land it is the occupation – and only the occupation.”