Abbas urges UN to suspend Israel during first commemoration of 1948 flight of the Palestinians

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is urging the United Nations to suspend Israel’s membership in the U.N. unless it implements resolutions establishing separate Jewish and Arab states and the return of Palestinian refugees. Abbas spoke Monday during the first official U.N. commemoration of the flight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from what is now Israel following the U.N.’s partition of British-ruled Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states 75 years ago. Israel and the U.S. boycotted the commemoration of what is known as the Nakba, or catastrophe, but representatives from all regional groups at the United Nations addressed the gathering.