The Palestinian leadership has proposed advancing a peace process with Israel by means of the U.N. Security Council, an expanded Quartet that would included China and Arab states, or an international conference. Palestinian Ambassador to the U.N. Riyad Mansour asserted that a collective framework that consists of a number of figures could succeed more than one country that was so close to Israel.” The Palestinian diplomat’s statement echoed the position of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that emphasized earlier this week that he would not consent to having the United States, under the Trump Administration, remain the sole mediator for an Israeli-Palestinian political process, after it has recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt criticized President Mahmoud Abbas for his “failure to mention Jewish links to Jerusalem”. In a series of tweets, Envoy Greenblatt said that ‘lasting peace would not happen by denying thousands of years of connection between the Jews and Jerusalem”, in reference to Abbas’ speech in Ramallah two days ago in which he said, “Jerusalem was holy to Muslims and Christians,” but stopped short from mentioning a Jewish connection to the antient city. Envoy Greenblatt warned that such statements had nothing ‘peaceful or positive’ about them, and reiterated that peace was not possible unless the facts declared by President Donald Trump were adopted.