Abbas's speech came two days after talks with Netanyahu and Obama [AFP]

Speaking at the UN General Assembly on Friday in New York, Abbas insisted the move was necessary in order to "salvage" the Middle East peace process.

Abbas said that Israel's continued building of settlements "will undermine the goal of establishing a geographically contiguous Palestinian state".

"How is it conceivable that negotiations can be held on borders and Jerusalem when Israeli bulldozers are working to change the reality on the ground with the aim of creating a new reality and imposing borders as Israel desires?

"How can one conceive holding negotiations without agreement on the terms of reference and the objective and goal of these negotiations that the whole world has unanimously agreed upon?"

Three-way meeting

Abbas addressed the UN body as the head of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), rather than as president of the Palestinian Authority which rules the West Bank.

His speech came a day after Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, addressed the General Assembly, accusing the world body of bias towards the Palestinians.

It also followed a meeting on Wednesday between  Barack Obama, the US president, Netanyahu and Abbas, during which the Israeli PM refused to yield to Abbas's demand to halt settlement building as part of the road map for peace.

The road map is a 2003 peace plan presented by mediators of the Quartet - the UN, EU, US and Russia - to Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

'Stating the facts'

Fares Braizat, a research director at Qatar University, said: "The speech, unlike Netanyahu's speech, was about stating the facts of the Palestinian aspirations.

"This kind of a speech is the legitimate thing to do for a president that is trying to find a solution to the Palestinian problem.

"Many observers have said that Abbas should not have met with Netanyahu ... it was understood to be a concession without getting anything back. Although it was seen on another perspective as something that is helping Obama to get the Israelis moving on the peace process.

"However, we have not seen any progress made.

"Therefore, it would not be surprising to see more pressure put on the Palestinians, perhaps more than applied on the Israelis in order to give up some of their demands in order to get something done, so Obama and others can say we have done something to the Palestinian issue and here are the results."

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