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President Abbas: “We will only accept mediation (for talks with Israel) from internationally-backed panel”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asserted he would no longer accept Washington as the sole-broker of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, but would only accept mediation from a broad, internationally-backed panel. Abbas declared, “The political negotiations should be under international mediation and not sole (American mediation). Should I make it clear? We do not accept America as mediator between us and Israel,” President Abbas told members of the Palestinian Central Council in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

 

The Palestinian President reiterated his position in which President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital ruled-out Washington as an honest broker, as Jerusalem is a core element to the Palestinian people that cannot be ignored – a foundation-pillar to any peace agreement that would end the decades old conflict between the Palestinians and Israel. Abbas asserted, “Now we said no to Trump and others, no we will not accept his project. We told him the deal of the century is the slap of the century and we will retaliate,” he vowed, while underlining that “Jerusalem was taken off the table by a tweet from Mr. Trump, because of that we are meeting now, because of that we are gathering here from all the sectors of the Palestinian society. Because there is nothing more important than Jerusalem to meet and hold talks about,” he said.

Abbas’s comments were made at the start of a two-day meeting of the Palestinian Central Council, the Palestinians’ highest decision-making body, which convened in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where 95 delegates will conclude an extensive debate tonight, on the future strategies of the Palestinian leadership.