Call for PLO to reconsider recognition of Israel after Trump move on Jerusalem

A senior PLO official yesterday called on his colleagues to reconsider their recognition of Israel, as senior Palestinian officials met to discuss US president Donald Trump’s move to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.

Speaking at the opening session of a two-day meeting of Palestine Liberation Organisation leaders in Ramallah, Salim Zanoun also called for an overall strategy for responding to Mr Trump’s announcement last month, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

Mr Zanoun is president of the Palestinian Central Council, a policy-making institution of the PLO.

It came a day after Hamas turned down an invitation to attend the meeting in what was a further setback to failing reconciliation efforts between leading Palestinian factions, Agence France-Presse reported.

“We have taken the decision not to participate in the meeting of the Central Council in Ramallah,” said Hamas, though stressed its “commitment to the unity of our people”.

“The conditions under which the committee will be held will not enable it to carry out a comprehensive and responsible political review and will prevent decisions that reach the level of our aspirations.”

Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian extremist movement, were invited to the meeting despite not being part of the PLO. Islamic Jihad has also said it will not take part.

Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, had been pushing for the meeting to be held outside the Palestinian territories but the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, decided to host it in Ramallah in the West Bank, the base of his government.

Hamas said this left them subject to the “pressures” of Israel, which occupies the West Bank and regularly arrests Hamas officials.

Reconciliation talks between Hamas and Mr Abbas’ Fatah party have also broken down, with disputes over the future of Hamas’s vast armed wing.

Mr Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December last year infuriated Palestinian leaders, who see at least the east of the city as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

The Trump administration has also not publicly committed to the idea of an independent Palestinian state.