The Palestinian presidency condemned on Monday a US veto of a UN resolution on Jerusalem, describing it as a disregard of the international community.
Presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeina denounced the US veto, calling it a mockery of the international community and a concession to Israeli occupation and aggression.
He stressed that this veto would lead to further isolation of the US and was a provocation of the international community.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, for his part, strongly attacked the United States and accused it of supporting Zionist work in Palestine since its inception. He said that the American position on recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel “has no legal or legitimate value and will be faced with many measures.”
Abbas made his remarks at the beginning of a meeting of the Palestinian leadership, held late on Monday in Ramallah to discuss the development of a new Palestinian strategy, in response to the US president’s decision.
“We will take legal, political and diplomatic measures,” Abbas said angrily.
“We declare our rejection of the United States as a political mediator because it has sided with Israel. The United States is a genuine partner ... in the Balfour Declaration… Although it was not a partner in the League of Nations, but it discussed every letter in it,” he added.
Abbas emphasized that the Palestinian Authority would resort to the UN General Assembly for the adoption of a set of resolutions, and said in this context that the PA would deploy all efforts in order to get full membership.
“We have everything needed… there is a state, a power, a land and borders, while Israel has no borders since 1947, so any recognition of Israel is void,” he stated.
The Palestinian president also announced that he signed on Monday bids to join 22 international organizations, and that he would apply every week to another organization, adding that he would form a committee to study all the relevant projects.
Within the framework of extensive consultations, Abbas will travel to the French capital on Thursday to meet with President Emmanuel Macron.
He will discuss in Paris the establishment of an international mechanism to replace the United States as a mediator for the peace process, based on the French initiative last year, which culminated in a peace conference attended by 25 foreign ministers from Arab and European countries and the United States, but issued a statement without clear mechanisms or a time limit.
