Mahmoud Abbas attends AU summit, reiterates position on Israel

ADDIS-ABABA, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Leader of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday attended the African Union Summit as a special guest and restated Palestine's policy, calling Israel's withdrawal from occupied territory.

Abbas was speaking in Addis Ababa during the opening of the 20th African Union Summit at which some 40 African heads of state and government and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon were present.

While on his first visit to Africa after the admission of Palestine into the UN with an observer status through the support of the African countries, the Palestinian leader reaffirmed his opposition and that of all the Palestinian people to the illegal occupation and colonization carried out by Israel on the Middle- East territory.

"The continued colonization only reflects a racist and an apartheid regime that is applied on the Palestine territory," Abbas said.

He called for the stoppage of the occupation policy, the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel, the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the occupied territory and the termination of the policy of confiscating Palestinian taxes by its powerful neighboring state.

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