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Palestinian Leadership Moves Towards Finding 'Alternative Mechanism' for Negotiations

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz (right) with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a reception ceremony in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 7, 2017. /Reuters Photo
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz (right) with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a reception ceremony in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 7, 2017. /Reuters Photo
    Ramallah, New York - Kifah Zaboun, Jordan Dakamseh
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Palestinian Leadership Moves Towards Finding 'Alternative Mechanism' for Negotiations

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz (right) with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a reception ceremony in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 7, 2017. /Reuters Photo
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz (right) with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a reception ceremony in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 7, 2017. /Reuters Photo

As Washington vetoed a Security Council resolution aimed at protecting the status of Jerusalem, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sent representatives to Russia and China “to seek an alternative international mechanism” and find a replacement to the United States as mediator in the political process.

In parallel, the UN General Assembly said it would hold an emergency session on Thursday to vote on a draft resolution that rejects US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

On Monday, the United States vetoed a draft resolution submitted by Egypt during a Security Council session. Yemen and Turkey called for an emergency session of the 193-nation General Assembly, on behalf of the Arab group of states and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Ahmad Majdalani, who traveled to China, said the delegations would convey a message from Abbas about the necessity that the peace process falls within the framework of the United Nations.

Majdalani headed the delegation to China, while Abbas’ foreign relations adviser, Nabil Shaath, led a delegation to Russia. The new Palestinian moves have emphasized the PA’s insistence on boycotting the United States and isolating it from the political process.

Abbas is expected to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, before heading to France, where he will meet with President Emmanuel Macron.

He was due to visit Riyadh on Tuesday, but the meeting was postponed one day at a Saudi request.

The Palestinian president will meet with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss the latest developments in the Palestinian file in the wake of the US decision on Jerusalem and its veto of the Security Council draft resolution.

Abbas will discuss in Saudi Arabia and France the creation of an alternative international mechanism for the United States, based on the French initiative last year, which ended with a peace conference attended by 25 foreign ministers from Arab and European countries and the United States, but issued a statement without clear mechanisms or time limit.

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No Armed Groups Allowed in Lebanon, President Tells Hezbollah’s Ally Iran

In this photo, released by the Lebanese Presidency press office, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets with Iranian Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani, at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)
In this photo, released by the Lebanese Presidency press office, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets with Iranian Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani, at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)
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No Armed Groups Allowed in Lebanon, President Tells Hezbollah’s Ally Iran

In this photo, released by the Lebanese Presidency press office, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets with Iranian Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani, at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)
In this photo, released by the Lebanese Presidency press office, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets with Iranian Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani, at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)

No group in Lebanon is permitted to bear arms or rely on foreign backing, its president told a visiting senior Iranian official on Wednesday after the cabinet approved the goals of a US-backed roadmap to disarm the Iran-aligned Hezbollah group. 

During a meeting in Beirut with Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's top security body, Joseph Aoun warned against foreign interference in Lebanon's internal affairs, saying the country was open to cooperation with Iran but only within the bounds of national sovereignty and mutual respect. 

Larijani said the Islamic Republic supports Lebanon’s sovereignty and does not interfere in its decision-making. 

"Any decision taken by the Lebanese government in consultation with the resistance is respected by us," he said after separate talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, whose Amal movement is an ally of Hezbollah. 

By "resistance", Larijani was alluding to Hezbollah, which was founded in 1982, grew into a "state-within-a-state" force better armed than the Lebanese army and has repeatedly fought Israel over the decades. 

"Iran didn't bring any plan to Lebanon, the US did. Those intervening in Lebanese affairs are those dictating plans and deadlines", said Larijani. 

He said Lebanon should not "mix its enemies with its friends - your enemy is Israel, your friend is the resistance ... I recommend to Lebanon to always appreciate the value of resistance." 

Later on Wednesday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said after meeting Larijani that recent remarks on Lebanon by Iranian officials including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were totally rejected by his government. He said the comments constituted a "violation" of the principle of mutual state sovereignty. 

Last week, Araghchi said Tehran supported any decision Hezbollah made and this was not the first attempt to strip the group of its arsenal. 

Ali Akbar Velayati, top adviser to Iran's supreme leader, also criticized the Lebanese government's move on disarmament. "If Hezbollah lays down its weapons, who will defend the lives, property, and honor of the Lebanese?" he said. 

The US submitted a plan through President Donald Trump's envoy to the region, Tom Barrack, setting out the most detailed steps yet for disarming Hezbollah, which has rejected mounting calls to disarm since its devastating war with Israel last year. 

Hezbollah has rejected repeated calls to relinquish its weaponry although it was seriously weakened in the war, with Israel killing most of its leadership in airstrikes and bombings. 

It was the climax of a conflict that began in October 2023 when the group opened fire at Israeli positions along Lebanon's southern frontier in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas at the start of the Gaza war. 

Aoun also said recent remarks by some Iranian officials had not been helpful, and reaffirmed that the Lebanese state and its armed forces were solely responsible for protecting all citizens.