The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the Islamic Hamas movement have slammed US President Donald Trump for suggesting removing the Jerusalem issue from the Middle East peace talks, Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.
Ahmad Tamimi, a PLO Executive Committee member said that remarks by Trump over removing the issue of Jerusalem from the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations “are useless.”
“Trump’s remarks express the biased US policy towards Israel and a continuation of US illusions, which include passing the ‘Deal of the Century’ minus Jerusalem as the capital for the Palestinian state.
‘’Trump won’t be able to remove Jerusalem from hearts of the Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims,” Tamimi said in a statement.
Palestinian leaders have repeatedly announced their categorical rejection to any US Middle East peace plan that excludes issues such as Jerusalem , the refugees and the Jewish settlements.
Trump was quoted as saying that that Washington has removed the Jerusalem issue from the negotiating table.
‘’Israel will pay a much higher price because it has taken a very valuable gift,” he said referring to Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in Dec 2017.