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Abbas: Any Decision on Jerusalem will Release us from Understandings

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (Reuters)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (Reuters)
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Abbas: Any Decision on Jerusalem will Release us from Understandings

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (Reuters)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (Reuters)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned that any US decision on Jerusalem would face widespread protests in the Palestinian territories and in the Arab and Muslim worlds. It would also lead to unforeseen dangers and push the region into further tension.

Abbas’ advisor, Deputy Prime Minister Ziad Abu Amr, conveyed a message from the president to the American administration, through the US Consul General in Jerusalem, Donald Blum, categorically rejecting any American decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel or to transfer the US embassy to the city.

The letter said that any action or decision taken by the US administration to meddle with the status of Jerusalem was “unacceptable, contradicts Washington’s role as mediator and sponsor of peace.”

It closes every door to continuing a serious peace process and pushes the entire region to greater tension and escalation, it warned.

Abu Amr told the US Consul that any action towards the transfer of the embassy or the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel “will be met with widespread protests in the Palestinian territories and other parts of the Islamic world, because Jerusalem is not only the capital of Palestine but also an Arab and Islamic matter.”

He underlined that any American action “will free the Palestinian leadership from any previous understandings with the administration.”

The new Palestinian message falls within a series of preemptive steps, including a formal Palestinian request for two emergency meetings of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and contacts between Abbas and Arab and Western heads of state and officials.

On Monday, Abbas sent a letter to the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al Sabah, asking him to intervene in the matter. He also sent another letter to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron for the same purpose.

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Hemedti Aide: Ready for Talks to End Sudan War if Seriousness Shown

Ezz El-Din Al-Safi, senior adviser to the commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Ezz El-Din Al-Safi, senior adviser to the commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Hemedti Aide: Ready for Talks to End Sudan War if Seriousness Shown

Ezz El-Din Al-Safi, senior adviser to the commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Ezz El-Din Al-Safi, senior adviser to the commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (Asharq Al-Awsat)

A senior adviser to the commander of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said the group is open to serious negotiations with the government based in Port Sudan to end the country’s devastating conflict, now in its third year, provided there is genuine political will from the other side.

The remarks by Ezz El-Din Al-Safi, who is also a member of the RSF’s negotiating team, come as international actors prepare to meet in Brussels on Thursday in a bid to lay the groundwork for a ceasefire.

The talks are expected to include the European Union, African Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Bahrain.

“Negotiations could begin with confidence-building measures and credible arrangements,” Al-Safi told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Dialogue remains the best path to ending a war that has no winners, only losers, both the people and the nation.”

He said the RSF is ready to discuss the location, timing, and possible mediators for peace talks, but stressed that any engagement must be met with equal seriousness by Sudan’s military-backed government.

However, Al-Safi cautioned that his group would not accept talks that merely allow the opposing side to regroup and secure external support to resume fighting.

“We cannot enter into a dialogue that gives the other party time to reorganize and rearm,” he said, adding that the RSF remains “at its strongest” on the battlefield.

Sudan’s army has conditioned any peace negotiations on the implementation of the Jeddah Declaration, a humanitarian agreement signed in May 2023. The deal, brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States, has since been marred by mutual accusations of violations from both the military and the RSF.

Meanwhile, the RSF is pushing ahead with plans to form a rival administration in areas under its control.

Al-Safi, a senior adviser to RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, said the group is nearing the formation of what he called a “government of unity and peace.”

He added that over 90% of the preparations for the announcement have been completed.

“The delay in announcing the government is due to ongoing consultations among members of the Founding Sudan Alliance [Tasis], which supports this move,” Al-Safi told Asharq Al-Awsat. “It’s not because of internal disagreements, as some have suggested.”

Asked about the planned capital of the parallel government, Al-Safi declined to name the city but suggested it would not be Khartoum.

“There are cities more beautiful than Khartoum,” he said. “From a strategic perspective, I believe the capital should be temporary and capable of accommodating all institutions of government.”

He only noted that the proposed city is located in territory controlled by the Tasis alliance.

The RSF’s moves come amid growing fears that the fragmentation of Sudan will deepen if parallel authorities are entrenched, further complicating efforts to reach a comprehensive peace.