The Palestinian Authority has blasted Israel on Sunday for opposing the US Consulate reopening in Jerusalem, accusing it for sabotaging Biden administration’s efforts to revive the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel, The Jerusalem Post reports.
It also repeated PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh’s call last Friday to the US to fulfill its promises to the Palestinians and immediately reopen the consulate, which had previously served as a de facto diplomatic mission to the Palestinians.
Reacting to Shtayyeh’s call, Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid stressed they think the US plan to reopen the consulate is a bad idea since Jerusalem is the sovereign capital of Israel and Israel alone.
The PA Foreign Ministry condemned later the statements of Lapid and other Israeli officials, underscoring that the Israeli stance does not serve the peace process and disrupts the US and international efforts to revive peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel.
It also condemned Israeli PM Naftali Bennett and Lapid’s pressure on Biden administration to backtrack on its decision to reopen the consulate, noting the Israeli position pushes toward Israelization and Judaization of Jerusalem, ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem and attempts to change the city’s historical and legal status.
Bennett recently said he would not meet with PA President Mahmoud Abbas due to his efforts to prosecute Israelis for “war crimes” before the ICCC, prompting reaction from the PA ministry that said that ‘those who fear trial before the International Criminal Court must immediately stop committing more violations and crimes against the Palestinian people and their homeland.’
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