Palestinians warn Trump of dangers of relocating US embassy in Israel
Palestinian officials warned the new US administration on Monday that talk about preparing to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is "very dangerous." Palestinians and the Arab world must strongly voice their objections now, lest the US think that people won’t take to the streets if such a move happens, said Saeb […]
Palestinian officials warned the new US administration on Monday that talk about preparing to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is "very dangerous."
Palestinians and the Arab world must strongly voice their objections now, lest the US think that people won’t take to the streets if such a move happens, said Saeb Erekat, second in line to President Mahmoud Abbas in the Palestine Liberation Organization.
"The situation is very dangerous," Erekat told the official Voice of Palestine radio on Monday. He cited as an example former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s visit to the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in 2000, which spurred the second Intifada, or uprising, that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians and Israelis.
Abbas, who has also repeatedly warned that such a move would be viewed as an "aggression," said he has asked Jordan for help in opening a direct line of communication with the White House after meeting with King Abdullah on Sunday.
"Talk about moving the embassy is important to the king and us," he said in Amman. "We urge the new US administration to either stop talking about moving the embassy to Jerusalem, or to engage with us in serious negotiations … to reach a political solution."
The Islamist Hamas movement also warned US President Donald Trump on Monday of the dangers of following through on his promise to move the US embassy to "occupied" Jerusalem.
"The American administration is exceeding all red lines by moving its embassy," the group in charge of Gaza since 2007 said in a statement.
White House speaker Sean Spicer had said Sunday that the US administration was "at the very beginning stages of even discussing" relocating the embassy, the Haaretz newspaper reported.
While the statement was criticized by some in Israeli media as vague, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat told Army Radio on Monday that, based on his conversations with the US administration, the White House is very serious about its promise to relocate the US embassy.
"They have several assets in Jerusalem that could provide a solution," he said, though adding: "I definitely think that you don’t move an embassy in a day."
Spicer’s comment came shortly before a "very warm" phone conversation between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about peace and security in the Middle East and the nuclear deal in Iran.
There was no mention of talks about moving the embassy, according to statements from Netanyahu and the White House.
Trump, who has repeatedly promised to move the US embassy to Jerusalem from its location in Tel Aviv, also invited Netanyahu to Washington in February. An exact date will be set in coming days.
Israel has long considered Jerusalem to be its capital. However, since the Palestinian Authority would like to make East Jerusalem the capital of an eventual state, picking Jerusalem as the site of the US embassy would be a clear signal of favouring one side over the other. (DPA)