US President Barack Obama will be held responsible for the failure of the Middle East peace process, members of the Palestinian Authority delegation to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York charged on Thursday. The latest allegation came as the PA called for anti-Obama demonstrations in protest against his opposition to the Palestinian statehood bid. Dozens of Palestinians answered the call on Thursday, demonstrating against Obama in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The protesters carried signs with anti-Obama slogans and some burned pictures of the US president, Army Radio reported. The officials said that relations between the PA and the US were now "at their lowest" because of Obama's opposition to PA President Mahmoud Abbas's plan to submit a request for full membership of a Palestinian state to the UN Security Council on Friday. Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said that despite the US opposition, Abbas was "determined" to submit the application to the UN on Friday. Until Obama delivered his speech at the UN on Wednesday, Abbas and his aides were still hoping that the US Administration would change its position regarding the statehood bid. But Obama's speech, which some PA officials described as "pro-Israel" and "biased," came as a shock to Abbas, according to one of his aides. "President Abbas didn't expect Obama to fully endorse the policies of the Israeli government," the aide told The Jerusalem Post. "We can even say that President Abbas was very angry and disappointed by the speech." (Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com …
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