Abbas looks beyond the US after Trump Jerusalem move
Ramallah: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is habitually cautious but, as protests have gripped the Palestinian territories since US President Donald Trump’s controversial policy shift recognising Occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, he has adopted unusually harsh language.
He refused to receive US Vice President Mike Pence during a scheduled visit - later cancelled - earlier this week, and on Friday said he would accept no further US role in the Middle East peace process.
Washington was a “dishonest mediator”, he said, and “we will no longer accept any plan from it”.
That stance plays well with Palestinians for whom Jerusalem is the iconic symbol of nationhood.
Some 86 per cent of respondents said they backed severing ties with the United States in a recent opinion poll.
Abbas also announced they would seek full membership at the United Nations.
Nine Palestinians have now been killed in clashes with Israeli occupation troops since Trump’s announcement and each one puts more pressure on Abbas not to back down.
“The Americans for a long time have been with the Israelis - more Zionist than the Zionists,” one protester, Emad Mohammad, told AFP.
“But Trump, because he is stupid and undiplomatic, has shown America’s true face.”
