Mahmoud Abbas said the raising of the Palestinian flag at the UN would be a "proud day"
The Palestinian flag has been raised for the first time at United Nations headquarters in New York.
The ceremony was attended by the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas.
Addressing
the UN General Assembly, Mr Abbas said it was unconscionable that the
question of Palestinian statehood remained unresolved.
He also warned that the PA no longer felt bound by agreements with Israel he claimed were "continually violated".
"As
long as Israel refuses to cease settlement activities and to release of
the fourth group of Palestinian prisoners in accordance with our
agreements, they leave us no choice but to insist that we will not
remain the only ones committed to the implementation of these
agreements," Mr Abbas said.
"We therefore declare that we cannot
continue to be bound by these agreements and that Israel must assume all
of its responsibilities as an occupying power."
Palestinians watched the president's UN General Assembly address on big screens in Ramallah
Mr Abbas has in the past threatened to dissolve the
PA and hand sole responsibility for the West Bank to Israel if there is
no chance of a peace deal.
The PA was set up as an interim
administration for the major Palestinian cities in the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip after the 1993 Oslo Accord. It was envisaged that a
comprehensive treaty would be concluded within five years.
However,
more than two decades of talks with Israel have failed to achieve a
final peace settlement and an independent Palestinian state. The last
round of negotiations collapsed in April 2014.
'Proud day'
Writing in the Huffington Post on Tuesday, Mr Abbas had said the raising of the Palestinian flag at the UN would be "a most emotional and proud day".
Israel's UN envoy said the raising of the flag was a "blatant attempt to hijack the UN"
The UN General Assembly passed a motion earlier this
month to raise the Palestinian and Vatican flags. Israel voted against
the motion, along with the United States and six other countries.
Forty-five countries also abstained.
Israel's permanent
representative to the UN, Ron Prosor, said at the time that the move was
a "blatant attempt to hijack the UN". He insisted that the only way
Palestinians could achieve statehood was through direct negotiations.
In
2012, the UN General Assembly voted to upgrade the status of the
Palestinians to that of a "non-member observer state" - the same
position that the Vatican holds.
It followed a failed bid by the
Palestinians to join the international body as a full member state in
2011 because of a lack of support in the UN Security Council.
The
BBC's Kevin Connolly in Jerusalem says Palestinians faced with falling
living standards and life under Israeli occupation on the West Bank are
growing impatient for some sign of progress in their quest for a
Palestinian state.
Raising the flag at the UN may not be as
effective as raising that issue further up the world's diplomatic agenda
but it is a tangible achievement and it was within Mr Abbas's power to
deliver immediately, our correspondent adds.
Title : Palestinian flag raised at United Nations headquarters
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