This is an entry from: Live: Syria condemns Israeli attack on 'civilian vehicle', warns of rising regional tensions

'Palestinian state already a reality', says Arab Israeli leader Mansour Abbas

Mansour Abbas, the conservative leader of the United Arab List (UAL) party in Israel, has called on Israel to recognise an “independent Palestinian state”, saying that it was already “a reality, which most of the world recognises, with the exception of the United States and Israel”, Israeli media reported.

During a speech to party delegates at their convention in Tayibe on Saturday, Times of Israel reported, Abbas said: “We want them to recognise it, and we’ll work to achieve peace, rapprochement and an end to the occupation and conflict.”

In June 2021, the UAL (Ra'am in its Hebrew acronym) made history by becoming the first independent Arab-majority party to join an Israeli governing coalition.

Abbas’s comments sparked harsh backlash from Israeli prime minister Netanyahu, who said “the price of a left-wing coalition with the Muslim Brotherhood has been exposed once again”, as well as Yashar party chief Gadi Eisenkot, who said that “there is no Palestinian state”.