Abbas rules out further peace role for ‘dishonest’ US
▶ By recognising Jerusalem, America has let Israel drag it into the same state of isolation
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas says his people will not accept any peace plan proposed by America after Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“The US has proven to be a dishonest mediator in the peace process and we will no longer accept any plan from the US,” Mr Abbas said after meeting Emmanuel Macron, the French president, in Paris on Friday.
The day before, the UN General Assembly overwhelming rejected the US president’s decision about the status of Jerusalem.
Mr Trump has said his administration is preparing a plan that is expected to be presented to the two sides next year.
But his announcement on December 6 that the US considered Jerusalem to be the Israeli capital caused outrage among Palestinians, who want the east of the Israeli-occupied city to be the capital of their future state.
The decision triggered daily protests across the Palestinian territories, with nine Palestinians killed so far in clashes with Israeli troops.
Mr Abbas also criticised efforts by the US to intimidate countries ahead of the UN vote on Thursday.
“I hope that the others will learn the lesson and understand that you cannot impose solutions by using money and trying to buy off countries,” the Palestinian president said.
Thursday’s vote in the General Assembly led 128 countries to condemn Washington’s position on Jerusalem, despite the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, warning that their stance would affect “how Americans look at countries who disrespect us in the UN”.
Mr Macron repeated his earlier condemnations of the US decision on Jerusalem but he also ruled out recognising Palestine as a state unilaterally, which France has mooted previously.
“The Americans have marginalised themselves and I am trying to not do the same thing,” he said.
“The solution will be built around two states so inevitably there will be a moment in the process when there is recognition. I want to do it at a moment that will help build peace on the ground.”
Mr Macron has also ruled out launching a fresh French peace initiative in the short term, saying he is waiting to see what happens with the US effort.
The French leader has stepped up his meetings with
Mahmoud Abbas criticised efforts by the US to intimidate countries ahead of the UN vote on Thursday
leaders from the Middle East in recent weeks, hosting the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Paris less than a fortnight ago and Jordan’s King Abdullah on Thursday.
Mr Macron said he would visit the Palestinian territories in the coming year.
“I have committed myself very clearly to doing everything” to further the peace process, he said.
Mr Abbas praised Mr Macron’s efforts as a mediator.
“We have trust in you. We respect the efforts made by you and we count heavily on your efforts,” he said.
Mr Abbas’s visit to Paris came a day after talks in Riyadh with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
They discussed the latest developments in the Palestinian territories and intensified practical efforts to ensure the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The Saudi foreign minister, Adel Al Jubeir, and the director of general intelligence, Khalid Al Humaidan, also attended the meeting.
As rebukes go, the one delivered by the United Nations General Assembly to the United States and Israel was a stinging one. On Thursday, an overwhelming majority of 128 voted to oppose US president Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. They came in their droves to vote on the UNGA resolution, from Albania to Azerbaijan, from Botswana to Brazil and from Suriname to Switzerland. One by one, they all delivered their crushing verdict: Mr Trump’s unilateral recognition of Israeli sovereignty over occupied Jerusalem was unlawful. Even allies of Washington, among them the United Kingdom, France and Germany, did not hold back in expressing “deep regret” over the US decision and backing the resolution stating the Holy City was a “final status issue to be resolved through negotiations in line with relevant UN resolutions”.
Both the US and Israel have reacted with petulance and threats. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the UNGA as a “theatre of the absurd” despite the fact Israel saw fit to vote on the resolution. Trump declared: “We don’t care” and threatened to cut financial aid to any countries who failed to back him. US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said she would be taking down names of those who voted and sent out invitations for a party solely for members who stood by the US.
What is clear is that the silent majority can be quiet no longer on an issue that has beleaguered the Middle East for too long. Israel has finally dragged the US into the pit of isolation it has long inhabited. Mr Trump has discovered the limits of his braggadocio. This is possibly the most devastating humiliation the US has suffered in a long time. Washington’s ability to act as an honest broker in a peace process is irreparably damaged. As Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said: “We will no longer accept any plan from the United States”. US credibility in the Middle East and beyond has dropped to a new nadir and the UN vote signals the emergence of a new, post-American world order. As Dr Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, tweeted, it was a “victory for international legitimacy and the Palestinian cause”.
Perhaps the US feels it can thumb its nose at the world because resolutions passed in the UNGA, for all their symbolic power, are non-binding; only measures passed by the Security Council carry the force of international law. The existing system, in which the votes of countries that account for billions of people can be ignored, cannot be sustained. But even with its imperfections, the UN sent out a message, loud and clear: the status of Jerusalem is not for the US to decide.