Abbas warns of 'tough steps' against Israel, US!

• The 83-year-old Abbas warned that he might "take tough steps in the near future in our relationship with our neighbours (Israel) and the Americans".

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the PLO parliament, which was meeting for its first full session since the 1990s, that he plans to take unspecified "tough steps" soon against Israel and the United States.Abbas told hundreds of delegates that he is sticking to his rejection of any US proposals for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal following the Trump administration's recognition in December of contested Jerusalem as Israel's

capital and a decision to move the US Embassy there in mid-May.

"This is completely unacceptable," he told the Palestinian National Council members during the opening of their four-day meeting in the West Bank. "We will not accept this deal, and we will not accept the US as the sole broker."

Abbas appeared to dismiss media reports quoting Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, as saying the Palestinians should stop complaining and accept what they are being offered by the Trump administration.

Abbas did not refer to those reports specifically, but said he has been assured that Saudi Arabia remains supportive of the Palestinian positions. "We hear lots of rumours," he told the delegates. "Don't believe them."

The 83-year-old Abbas warned that he might "take tough steps in the near future in our relationship with our neighbours (Israel) and the Americans." He did not elaborate, but said they would be important and far-reaching.

In rambling comments bound to trigger a backlash in Israel, Abbas also spoke about his views of history, portraying the creation of Israel as a European colonial project. "The truth is that this project is a colonial project aimed at planting foreign bodies in the region," he said. "But this does not mean we should uproot them. We should co-exist with them on the basis of a two-state solution." He also talked about what he believes are the causes of 20th century anti-Semitism in Europe, saying these views are based on books by Jewish writers.

"The conclusion of these books is that animosity toward Jews was not because of their religion, but because of their social activities," including money-lending, he said.

The meeting of the PLO parliament comes at a time of deep divisions between Abbas and his domestic rival, the militant group Hamas that controls the Gaza Strip. Hamas has raised its leadership profile in recent weeks by organszing mass protests on the Gaza border with Israel.

In the weekly marches, thousands of Palestinians gather near the border fence throwing stones and burning tires.