RAMALLAH, WEST BANK:  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says a new 'multilateral' approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is needed since direct negotiations have failed. Ahead of his Wednesday address to the United Nations, Abbas says the model should be based on the type of negotiations process that took place in the Balkans, Libya and Iran. Several rounds of past negotiations have been unable to reach a peace accord. In a harshly worded op-ed published in The Huffington Post, Abbas shunned renewing peace talks with Israel. While Abbas' Palestinian Authority rules over most of the West Bank Palestinian population, Israel still controls much of the territory. Abbas says 'we cannot directly negotiate with a power that has this level of control and exhibits such contempt for the rights and existence of our people.'