The Palestinian Authority (PA) slammed Sunday the US State Department for deleting its name from the list of countries and states.
PA presidency spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the decision represents an “unprecedented deterioration in the US foreign policy.”
“This step again shows the US government is not only biased toward the Israeli occupation, but is fully aligned with the plans of the extremist Israeli right-wing,” he added.
He remarked that the US administration’s move emphasizes its isolation in wake of international recognition of the Palestinian state.
The administration “must know that there will be no peace, security and stability in the region without the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital on the June 4, 1967 borders,” he noted.
Earlier, sources in the settler leadership in the occupied West Bank revealed that the US administration deleted any reference to the Authority from the State Department website.
They said that the Trump administration insists on changing how it deals with the PA, and punish it for refusing to deal with Washington.
The State Department removed the PA from its official website because of its refusal to deal with Washington and its still undisclosed “deal of the century” peace proposal.
After removing the word “occupation” from any subject relating to the Palestinian cause, Washington took a step further and removed the Palestinian Authority as one of the areas of activity of the US administration in the Middle East.
The sources confirmed that US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman is behind this decision.
They added that Friedman is known for demanding that the word “occupation” be removed from the State Department's rhetoric in anything relating to the Palestinian areas.
Friedman has been seeking to adopt the Israeli name for the West Bank, Judea and Samaria. He recently said Israel had rights in the West Bank and hinted that the situation on the ground would lead to its eventual annexation to the Jewish state.
