Palestinian Leader In New UN Bid To End Occupation

(AP) — Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel on Friday of conducting a "war of genocide" and a "series of absolute war crimes" during the 50-day summer conflict in Gaza, but stopped short of saying he will pursue war crime charges against the Jewish state at the International Criminal Court.

In his speech at the U.N. General Assembly, Abbas also said he would seek a U.N. resolution to set a deadline for Israel to pull out of Palestinian lands captured in the 1967 war, but did not include a three-year deadline as his aides said he would.

"This last war against Gaza was a series of absolute war crimes carried out before the eyes and ears of the entire world, moment by moment," Abbas said. The devastation unleashed, "is unmatched in modern times."

Israel denounced the allegations as "a speech of incitement filled with lies."

Abbas' remarks "highlight once again how he does not want and cannot be a partner for a reasonable diplomatic agreement," Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement.

Israel launched thousands of airstrikes against what it said were Hamas-linked targets in Gaza, while Gaza militants fired several thousand rockets at Israel. More than 2,100 Palestinians were killed, a large majority civilians, and some 18,000 homes were destroyed, according to U.N. figures. Sixty-six soldiers and six civilians were killed on the Israeli side.

The devastating war has weakened Abbas domestically, with his Hamas rivals enjoying a surge of popularity among Palestinians for fighting Israel.

He is under pressure at home to come up with a new political strategy after his repeated but failed attempts to establish a Palestinian state through U.S.-mediated negotiations with Israel.

His aides had said he would he would launch a new bid for a U.N. Security Council resolution to set a three-year timetable for Israel to pull out of Palestinian lands captured in the 1967 war. They added that a U.N. rejection of the Palestinian request would prompt Abbas to seek membership in international agencies, including the International Criminal Court.

That would open the door to war crimes charges against Israel for its military actions in Gaza and Jewish settlement construction on West Bank land the Palestinians want for a future state.

However, Abbas' speech appeared markedly less dramatic than what his aides had described earlier this week.

"We will not forget and we will not forgive, and we will not allow war criminals to escape punishment," Abbas said, though he made no mention of taking the case to the International Criminal Court.

He also did not mention a deadline for ending the occupation, referring instead to a "specific time frame for the implementation of these objectives."

Turning to the International Criminal Court would be a major policy shift for Abbas. It would transform his relations with Israel from tense to openly hostile, and badly strain his relations with the United States.

Abbas met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Tuesday in New York and expressed little optimism his U.N. bid would survive a Security Council vote. The United States will almost certainly veto such a measure, having said the only resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is through direct negotiations between the two sides.