Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas discovered Tuesday that despite his best efforts to destroy the eternal bond between Israel, the Jewish People and Jerusalem, he has failed.
In a telephone conversation Tuesday night, U.S. President Donald Trump officially informed Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority leader Abbas, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II that he intends to transfer the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, although he gave no timeline for the move.
On Wednesday the president is expected to deliver a speech in which he may also announce the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as well.
Mahmoud Abbas immediately picked up the phone and began dialing world leaders in a frantic effort to rally support to stop the president from carrying out his plan.
During the call with the White House, Abbas had warned Trump about “the gravity of the consequences” the move would have for “the peace process and security and stability in the region and world.” He reportedly also told the president that he would not accept a two-state solution with East Jerusalem as the capital for a new Palestinian Authority state.
But the president has clearly paid close attention to all of the other speeches Abbas has made as well over the past year, in Arabic as well as English, along with the actions that have accompanied his words — as well as those actions that should have, but have not.
Palestinian Authority international affairs adviser Nabil Sha’ath told reporters Tuesday, “If Mr. Trump comes up and says ‘I recognize the united Jerusalem to be the capital of the State of Israel,’ he [will] have destroyed every chance that he will play to get the deal of the century,” making it clear the president will no longer be able to “play a role as an honest broker.”
Hamas called for a “new intifada” if the plans go ahead, with the terror group’s politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh saying the embassy move would be “a dangerous escalation” that provides “the extremist Netanyahu government cover to implement its criminal plans to Judaize Jerusalem.”
Both Jordan and Egypt cautiously urged Trump to “preserve the historical rights” of Palestinian Authority Arabs in Jerusalem and to avoid measures that would “undermine chances for peace in the Middle East.”
Abbas immediately picked up the phone to contact a list of world leaders — and the Vatican — as soon as he learned that Trump had definitely decided to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem.
Abbas urged every world leader to intervene and do everything possible to prevent the United States from moving its embassy to Israel’s capital city, which the Palestinian Authority has long coveted for its own.
In accordance with his wishes, the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, dispatched a letter to Washington signed by the leaders of 57 Arab and Muslim-majority nations, warning Trump of the dire consequences that will result from such a move.
“Jerusalem must remain the soil for coexistence and tolerance among us,” reads the letter from the Moroccan monarch, who chairs the Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Committee in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), that also appeared to contain a veiled threat.
“Transferring the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem will affect the horizon for creating a just settlement to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
“The Middle East region is experiencing deep crises that require avoiding anything that will lead to dissatisfaction and frustration that instigate extremism and terrorism.”
Jordan has called an emergency meeting for Saturday of the Arab League and the Organization of Muslim States, to discuss President Donald Trump’s decision to transfer the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.