American Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt derided Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ failure to mention the Jewish people’s connection to Jerusalem in a speech this week.
By: Ezra Stone, United with Israel
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas repeatedly told participants of the Jerusalem Capital of Muslim Youth 2018 festival in Ramallah on Tuesday that Jerusalem is a city for Muslims and Christians, omitting any mention of Jews or Judaism.
“Pres. Abbas states about Jerusalem: ‘it is Arab, Muslim, and Christian.’ And makes no mention of any Jewish ties. Nothing peaceful or productive can come from statements like this,” Greenblatt pointed out on Twitter.
“Lasting peace will not be achieved by denying Judaism’s thousands of years of ties to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is holy to Muslims, Christians, and Jews,” the US envoy explained, referring to President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017.
In Abbas’ speeches since Trump’s announcement, the Palestinian leader has stressed the Arab, Muslim and Christian dimensions of Jerusalem, pushing a revisionist agenda that tries to write the Jews out of the history of Jerusalem.
This agenda has remained a key feature of the Palestinian “national enterprise,” whose goal is creating an Arab state “from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea,” boundaries that would leave no room for a Jewish state in the Land of Israel.
“This land is an Islamic and Christian land, by all standards. Jerusalem is the eternal Palestinian capital of Muslim youths; it is also the capital of Christian youths,” remarked the PA president this week.
PA officials for their part have called Greenblatt an “American Zionist” for defending the US’ Jerusalem stance and for his reaction to the PA’s decision to boycott US involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.