Abbas railed at Trump for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
By: United with Israel Staff and AP
Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas called on the Palestinian Central Council (PCC) during a meeting in Ramallah on Sunday to revise the peace agreements signed between the Palestinians and Israel, while viciously lashing out at the US and President Donald Trump in an unprecedented way.
The PCC opened a two-day meeting called to discuss the ramifications of the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to discuss Palestinian strategy after that.
Abbas railed at Trump in a fiery, two-hour-long speech, saying “shame on you” for his stance towards the Palestinians and warning that he would have no problem rejecting what Trump suggested as a peace plan, a plan Abbas said would be unacceptable.
The speech by Abbas ratcheted up what has been more than a month of harsh Palestinian rhetoric toward Trump since his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Relations between Washington and the Palestinians have sunk to a new low, boding poorly for a peace plan the White House has promised to present.
Speaking to the PCC, a decision-making body, Abbas repeated the Palestinians’ opposition to Trump’s Jerusalem recognition and censured Trump for accusing the Palestinians of refusing to negotiate.
“He (Trump) said in a tweet: ‘We won’t give money to the Palestinians because they rejected the negotiations,'” Abbas said. “Shame on you. When did we reject the talks? Where is the negotiation that we rejected?”
“May your house be destroyed,” he said of Trump.
Palestinians ‘Will Slap Back’
Abbas said Trump’s Jerusalem recognition had destroyed Trump’s credibility as a Mideast peace broker.
“We can say no to anyone if things are related to our fate and our people, and now we have said no to Trump,” he said. “We told him the deal [Trump’s peace plan] of the century was the slap of the century. But we will slap back.”
“We do not take instructions from anyone, and say ‘no’ to anyone if it is about our destiny, our cause, our country and our people… 1,000 times no,’” he said.
“I call on the Central Council to revise all the agreements signed between the PLO and Israel because Israel has brought these agreements to a dead end,” he said, adding that “we are going to take this decision even though we know in advance what it will bring to us.”
Abbas said that “Israel has ended the Oslo agreement,” and therefore the Central Council needs to think of “where should we go from here?”
Abbas said the Palestinians will not accept the US as a sole broker, and believe a deal can only be reached if there are multiple parties, such as with the international nuclear deal between six global powers and Iran.
Abbas also said that the Palestinians have rejected a US request to halt payments to Palestinian terrorists and their families. Israel says that the practice is incitement to violence.
He again threatened that the Palestinians will continue to “pursue justice” from international forums and the International Criminal Court (ICC), while continuing efforts to gain full membership in the United Nations as well as continue efforts to join hundreds of conventions and agreements.
Such a move would consist of a blatant breach of the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords.
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