Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday upped his belligerent rhetoric against Israel and Jewish rights in the Holy Land on the eve of US-hosted peace talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Speaking to reporters accompanying him on the flight to Washington, Abbas told the Jews that Judea and Samaria (the so-called "West Bank") is not theirs, and suggested Jewish settlers living there would be wise to pack up and leave.
Asked by the editor of the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency what he wanted to tell Israelis living in the West Bank ahead of the peace talks, Abbas replied:
"The settlers are sitting on lands that are not theirs. I tell them that this is not your land and you know that. You can't impose facts on the ground, because the settlements are illegal and will be removed."