Addressing the opening session of the four-day meeting of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) in Ramallah on Monday, Mahmoud Abbas censured Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s “capital” and said Palestinians believe the US can no longer act as the sole mediator in the decades-long conflict with Israel, due to its pro-Israel bias.
Abbas said: "Trump’s plan is an end to the peace process in the Middle East. There will be no peace between Israelis and Palestinians without Jerusalem al-Quds as the capital of the future State of Palestine".
“If Washington wants to provide something, it must say it is with the choice of the two-state solution and [that] East Jerusalem [al-Quds] is the capital of the independent State of Palestine. Anything different from this, we won’t accept."
He further said: “There will be no Palestinian state without the Gaza Strip, and there will be no state in Gaza only.”
Abbas also ruled out any project to establish a Palestinian state with temporary borders, saying it was a “betrayal” of the Palestinian cause.
On December 6, Trump announced that Washington recognizes Jerusalem al-Quds as the “capital” of Israel, and would relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied city.
The dramatic shift in Washington’s policy vis-à-vis the city triggered demonstrations in the occupied Palestinian territories and elsewhere in the world.
Following Trump’s announcement, Abbas declared that the US could no longer serve as a peace broker, and has since been working to create an international mechanism to guide the so-called Middle East peace process.
Abbas has also said what Trump calls the “deal of the century” insults Palestinians and has in fact turned into the “slap of the century.”
The Palestinian president further slammed Israel’s illegal settlement activities in the occupied territories, calling for an end to the occupation of Israel in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative, which envisions a two-state solution to the conflict.
