Palestinians warn of ‘chaos’ if US embassy moved to Jerusalem

BETHLEHEM, Palestinian Territories: A senior Palestinian official warned US presidentelect Donald Trump Friday that moving the American embassy to Jerusalem would destroy prospects of peace with Israel and push the region into turmoil.

The remarks by the secretarygeneral of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Saeb Erekat, came as Israeli officials praised Trump’s decision to nominate hardliner David Friedman as envoy to the Jewish state.

The Palestinians regard east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv before a final agreement on the conflict “will be the destruction of the peace process,” Erekat told journalists.

He also warned of the potential outcome of moving the embassy and a change in the “longstanding position” of the United States that considers “the settlements as illegal”.

“I look David Friedman and Trump in the eye and tell them – if you were to take these steps of moving the embassy and annexing settlements in the West

I look David Friedman and Trump in the eye and tell them – if you were to take these steps of moving the embassy and annexing settlements in the West Bank, you are sending this region down the path of something that I call chaos, lawlessness and extremism. — Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation

Bank, you are sending this region down the path of something that I call chaos, lawlessness and extremism,” he said.

Friedman, a bankruptcy attorney, supports settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, characterised by succesive US administrations as an “obstacle to peace” with the Palestinians.

In a Trump transition team statement on Thursday announcing his appointment, Friedman said he wanted to work for peace and looked forward to “doing this from the US embassy in Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his right-wing government welcomed on Friday Friedman’s nomination.

A source in Netanyahu’s office said the premier was “pleased” with the appointment.

“He knows David Friedman has the full confidence of PresidentElect Trump and looks forward to working closely with him,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely called the appointment “good news for Israel,” while Education Minister Naftali Bennett of the far-right Jewish Home said that Friedman was “a great friend of Israel.”

The United States and most UN member states do not recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and the city’s status is one of the thorniest issues of the decadeslong Israeli-Palestinian conflict. — AFP