Messages from Arab leaders poured in on Saturday, congratulating President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their victory, Anadolu reported.
Senior PLO official Nabil Shaath said that “nothing was worse than Trump’s era, his departure is a gain.” And Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said: “US President Donald Trump, who sought to obliterate Palestine’s cause, has gone and Jerusalem will not go.”
Haniyeh stated that “the Trump administration was the most extreme in its support for Israel at the expense of Palestinian rights. We call on President-elect Joe Biden to make a historic correction to the discriminatory American policy toward the Palestinian people that has caused instability in the region and the world.”
Haniyeh issued the following demands to the incoming president:
- Reverse the deal of the century
- Revoke the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel
- Cancel the relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem
- Cancel all decisions related to the attempt to eliminate the issue of Palestinian refugees, and in particular to reduce UNRWA’s budget
According to Anadolu, the leaders of Qatar, Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan were less demanding and a whole lot friendlier.
The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, congratulated Biden and Harris, tweeting, “I look forward to working together to continue strengthening the friendship between our countries.”
President Michel Aoun of Lebanon expressed his hope that “balance in the Lebanese American relations will return, for the good of the friendly Lebanese and American peoples.”
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi issued a statement early Saturday through presidential spokesperson Bassam Radi, saying he is looking forward to “cooperation and joint action to strengthen the strategic bilateral relations between Egypt and the United States for the interest of the two countries and peoples.”
Jordan’s King Abdullah II also congratulated the US president-elect, tweeting: “I look forward to working with you on further advancing the solid historic partnership between Jordan and the United States, in the interest of our shared objectives of peace, stability, and prosperity.”
Congratulations to President-Elect and VP-Elect . I look forward to working with you on further advancing the solid historic partnership between Jordan and the United States, in the interest of our shared objectives of peace, stability and prosperity pic.twitter.com/Q5qN565nGa
— عبدالله بن الحسين (@KingAbdullahII)