Palestinian President Abbas on Friday warned US President-elect Donald Trump that moving the American embassy to Jerusalem would be crossing a “red line” and could jeopardize peace prospects.
“Any statement or position that disrupts or changes the status of Jerusalem is a red line which we will not accept,” he said in a speech, a transcript of which was published by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Trump has said he plans to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Abbas said that if the embassy was moved “the peace process in the Middle East, and even peace in the world, will be in severe trouble.”
Ynet reports that Abbas sent Presdient-elect trump a letter informing him of “the dangers entailed in moving the American embassy to Jerusalem.”
Abbas asked Trump to refrain from taking the step which he had promised throughout his presidential campaign, describing it as destructive for the peace process, counterproductive to the two-state solution and to the stability of the region.
In addition, Abbas sent a letter to European heads of state, to China, to the secretary-general of the Arab League and to Russia urging them to take measures to prevent the move.
(AP / YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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6 Responses
It’s clear this means a lot to them, that’s why Trump wants to do it. To show them where he stands. Arabs only respect force. Unfortunately for them, they hurt themselves by taking that stance.
IMHO it’s worth a lot of serious thought if the symbolic gesture of having an embassy in Jerusalem — possibly resulting R”L in lots of terrorist activity in the US and increasing anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism — would be worth it.
Peace, huh? 4 Israelis dead and many more injured just this week when the embassy is not in Jerusalem?
#2 Totally wrong. You obviously do not understand Arab mentality. As #1 said, Arabs only understand and respect force. The weaker you show yourself, the more terrorism. If the self-appointed High Court wouldn’t be allowed all that power and run the State from behind and not giving Netanyahu the go ahead to do as he should and he would be able to show strength, there’d be peace. If they fear Trump, it’s a good sign.
Abbas is doing exactly what Muslims do. They make threats of violence and terror if they don’t get their way. They also engage in violence and terror if they do get their way, but as long as we have Democrats in any positions of power, we can’t say that. It may be truth, but it is not politically correct. Trumps responsible answer is that until they abandon terror and behave civilly, no one is about to reckon with them. If they will take up arms and fight, US will assist Israel in every way to stop the terror.
Does Abbas think that somehow at some point that Jerusalem will not be the capital of Israel? Let him threaten. His demand is ridiculous–as if the peace process is going anywhere for years
aryeh correct on this one. absolutely. obamas mistake was a total misunderstanding of arab mentality. (which is interesting given that he himself is muslim) they need a dictator who is gonna step on their neck just to keep control. bush made that mistake too by getting rid of saddam. there will never be true democracy by arabs.