Its seems that Washington is poised and ready to interact with the Palestinian Authority following Wednesday’s announcement by President Donald Trump that the US would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The White House has cautioned against cancelling the planned talks between US Vice President Mike Pence and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Pence “still intends to meet Abbas and Palestinian leaders and thinks any decision to pull out of the meeting would be counterproductive,” a White House official was quoted as saying by the BBC.
The talks between Pence and Abbas are due to take place during the US Vice President’s visit to the Palestinian Authority, which is slated for the second half of December, when Pence is also set to visit Egypt and Israel.
Abbas has yet to comment on Pence’s latest remarks, which is not the case with his Fatah party. Its high-ranking official Jibril Rajoub said that Pence is “not welcome” in the Palestinian Authority.
Earlier on Thursday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh pledged to launch “an intifada in the face of the Zionist enemy,” urging Arab countries to halt all cooperation with the United States.
He was echoed by Zahir al-Harithi, head of the External Relations Committee of the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia, who told Sputnik that Trump surprised everyone with his “extremely dangerous decision,” which dealt a blow to international agreements related to the peaceful settlement of the situation around the Palestinian Authority.
He urged the international community “to send a political appeal to Washington to force it to review this catastrophic decision.”
Al-Harithi’s standpoint was shared by the Russian President’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who pointed out that the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital may ride roughshod over the peace process pertaining to the Palestinian Authority and could drive a wedge within the global community.