Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud AbbasReuters

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas will deliver a rare address to the UN Security Council this month, the council president said Thursday, according to AFP.

Abbas is expected to respond to U.S. President Donald Trump's recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital as well as Israeli “settlement expansion”, Kuwait said.

His speech is scheduled for February 20.

Kuwait's UN Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi, who holds the council presidency for February, told reporters that it was "important" for the top UN body to "listen to the president himself" during the Middle East debate.

Following Trump's Jerusalem move, an angry Abbas declared that he would "no longer accept" any peace plan proposed by the United States.

He is now planning to bypass the U.S. and Israel altogether by asking EU foreign ministersto recognize a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 territories with eastern Jerusalem as its capital.

Tensions have also flared between the PA and the U.S. over Washington's decision to cut funding to the UN agency for “Palestinian refugees”, UNRWA.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon on Thursday said that Abbas's address at the UN Security Council would further damage prospects for direct peace talks with Israel.

“After disseminating antisemitic messages in recent speeches, Mahmoud Abbas is now seeking to put an end to any possibility of negotiations with Israel,” said Ambassador Danon.

“By continuing to act against the United States and seeking unilateral action against Israel, Abbas is completely misreading today’s reality and harming the prospects for a better future for his people,” he added.