UNITED NATIONS, United States — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday called for an international conference to be held by mid-2018 to launch a new, wider Middle East peace process and pave the way to Palestinian statehood.

In a rare address to the UN Security Council, Abbas presented what he called a “peace plan” to revive the comatose Israeli-Palestinian talks with new international mediation — in which the United States would have less weight.

“To solve the Palestine question, it is essential to establish a multilateral international mechanism emanating from an international conference,” Abbas said.

President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital infuriated the Palestinians, who declared that Washington could no longer play a role as lead mediator in the Middle East peace process.

Abbas put the blame for the failure of peace efforts squarely on Israel, saying it was “acting as a state above the law” and had “shut the door on the two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“It has transformed the occupation from a temporary situation as per international law into a situation of permanent settlement colonisation,” he said.

Abbas said the conference should lead to full UN membership for the state of Palestine, mutual recognition of Israel and Palestine, and the creation of a new international mechanism to reach a final settlement.

The Palestinian leader immediately left the council chamber following his address, leaving Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon to complain that he was once again “running away” from dialogue.

“You have made it clear, with your words and with your actions, that you are no longer part of the solution. You are the problem,” Danon said.

Path to nowhere

The US envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley, warned that turning to the United Nations and rejecting the US role in peace talks “will get the Palestinian people exactly nowhere toward the achievement of their aspirations”.

Haley was accompanied to the council meeting by Jason Greenblatt, the US envoy for Middle East peace and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in law and adviser on Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

“Our negotiators are sitting right behind us, ready to talk,” she said, before adding: “But we will not chase after you. The choice, Mister President, is yours.”

The Israeli-Palestinian peace process has been deadlocked since a major push by the former US administration of Barack Obama ended in failure in April 2014.

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