Following a vote Thursday by the United Nations General Assembly to declare “null and void” the Trump administration’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and relocate the American Embassy, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the United States has “disqualified” itself as “an honest mediator” in efforts to resolve the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.
“The United States are no longer an honest mediator in the peace process,” Abbas said at a press conference in Paris. “We will not accept any plan from the United States of America because of its bias and violation of the international law.”
While the Trump administration’s Middle East envoy, Jared Kushner, has for the past few months been drafting a new peace plan for the region, details have not yet been publicly divulged. The BBC reports “there has been an expectation it will be publicly launched in early 2018,” noting that “the last round of U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed amid acrimony in April 2014.”
However, following the Jerusalem decision, Abbas is turning to other world leaders to assist with peace negotiations. “We call upon countries that did not recognize Palestine yet to do so to preserve the two-state solution before it’s too late,” he said.
A spokesman for the Palestinian Authority president called the 128-9 vote in the U.N. General Assembly—which denounced the U.S. decision on Jerusalem—”a victory for Palestine,” and vowed that Palestine “will continue our efforts in the United Nations and at all international forums to put an end to this occupation and to establish our Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
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