TEL AVIV — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas strongly objects to moving the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, his office said in a special statement released Tuesday and reported by the official Palestinian news agency.
“We won’t be able to accept the move of the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem because it effectively means the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” Palestinian presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh wrote in the statement, warning of the implications of the decision “on the peace process, the security and the stability of the region and the entire world. There won’t be any Palestinian state without Jerusalem as its capital.”
Rudeineh didn’t mention the PA’s own repeated refusal to accept Israeli statehood offers as an impediment to peace, or the PA’s recent unity agreement with the Hamas terrorist organization.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials warned in interviews with Breitbart Jerusalem of the implications of the decision to move the embassy, saying that such an act would ignite the entire region.
“The decision will turn the region into a ball of fire,” said Talal Abou Zarifeh, a politburo member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. “A fire that will engulf all who cooperate with this initiative against the Palestinian cause.”
Abou Zarifeh continued: “Jerusalem will continue to be the immortal capital of Palestine. All of the regional and international pressures being put on the Palestinian Authority must be rejected if it is to accept the American deal of the century and the movement of the embassy to Jerusalem or the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital must be rejected and fought against.”
“The Palestinian president must declare immediately that he withdraws from all the agreements, especially the Oslo Accords, and act to unite all parts of the Palestinian people to confront the American decision,” he concluded.
Rabah Muhana, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s politburo, stated, “America’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the Zionist entity and the move of the embassy to Jerusalem is renewed proof that the U.S. is determined to continue its hostility against the Palestinian people and the Arab nations.”
“America’s aggressive policies must be fought and we must sabotage its imperialistic policies in the region,” Muhana continued. “The Palestinian Authority needs to stop betting on the U.S. as the American government across generations has and is acting in the interests of the Zionist entity and giving it a security net so it can continue its policy of settlement in Palestinian territories.”