Pence to face difficult Middle East visit in wake of Jerusalem step

JERUSALEM — Neither the Palestinian Authority president nor the head of the Coptic Church in Egypt plan to meet with US Vice-President Mike Pence when he visits the Middle East later this month, to protest the US declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

The rejections emerged as the Anadolu Agency said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to work together to persuade the US to change its stance on Jerusalem. Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi said the United Nations Security Council should now move to “bring the US to compliance.”

Protests against the US move extended for a third day in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. The Gaza Health Ministry said four Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours in clashes with Israeli soldiers or by Israeli air strikes, launched in response to rocket fire on southern Israeli towns.

Mr. Trump’s decision, presented as being in “the pursuit of peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” has been denounced across the Arab world. Members of the Security Council condemned the move Friday as contradicting international law and prejudging the outcome of negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the decision ”courageous” and “just.”

TWO-STATE SOLUTION

Palestinians claim the eastern sector of Jerusalem, with shrines sacred to Muslims, Jews and Christians, as the capital of a future state. Israel’s current government sees the area as part of the nation’s eternal capital.

Jerusalem’s status must be worked out in peace negotiations with Israel, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said in Cairo, where he added that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas wasn’t planning to meet Mr. Pence and stressed that the peace process needed a new mediator.

Pope Tawadros II, head of the Coptic Church in Egypt, also won’t meet Mr. Pence because the US administration’s decision fails to take “into consideration the feelings of millions of people,” the church said on its Facebook page.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, said Mr. Trump’s Jerusalem announcement “extended a lifeline to terrorist groups and armed organizations, which have started to lose ground in the region.” He expressed hope that Mr. Trump would retract it, according to staterun WAM news agency.

Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, said Friday that the Trump administration supports a two-state solution if agreed to by both parties, and added that an Israeli- Palestinian peace agreement is within reach.

That did little to pacify Muslims. The Hamas group, which rules the Gaza Strip and has called for a new uprising, sent out a leaflet on Saturday urging Palestinians to continue to confront Israeli forces to protest the US move. The militant Islamic Jihad in Gaza and other Palestinian factions in the West Bank issued similar calls.

BELL RINGING

The West Bank groups instructed Palestinian churches to ring their bells as a show of unity, and called for demonstrations in front of US government buildings in the West Bank on Monday. Palestinians should block roads and confront Jewish settlers on Friday, they said.

In Lebanon, army chief General Joseph Aoun instructed the military to be “on alert and prepared to react to possible repercussions of the crisis.” He also said troops on the country’s southern border with Israel should be prepared “to confront any Israeli aggression or any breach of security.”

Dennis Ross, a former negotiator on Middle East peace talks who served three US presidents, said Mr. Trump’s declaration would have been better delivered in the context of a deal that offered Arabs something positive. The issue is “probably the most emotional one of all those involving Israelis and Palestinians,” he told Bloomberg TV. — Bloomberg