Spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas and deputy Prime Minister Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Thursday that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked, through intermediaries, to kick off talks with the Palestinian leadership, a request rejected by the Palestinian president.
“Despite US efforts to make contact with the Palestinian leadership through many intermediaries, President Abbas insisted on not resuming relations with the US administration until it rescinds its illegal decisions on Jerusalem,” he said.
Speaking at a press conference in Ramallah, Abu Rudeineh made clear that the Palestinian relations and contacts with the US administration would not resume unless the latter goes back on its previous anti-Palestinian decisions.
The position came as Pompeo visited Jerusalem on Thursday and after the Trump administration announced it backs Israel's claim to sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
Abu Rudeineh said plots and schemes against the Palestinian people and their cause, whether they come from the United State, Israel or Hamas, will not succeed and are doomed to failure.
He stressed that Arab capitals had already told the Americans that they would not accept what the Palestinian people themselves have rejected.
“No Arab country would accept what President Abbas does not accept. Thus, there is a complete rejection of this conspiracy,” he said, referring to the US Mideast plan, dubbed the “Deal of the Century.”
Abu Rudeineh also said Hamas’ rise to power in Gaza almost 12 years ago following its coup, marked the start of the so-called Arab Spring, which he described as a colonialist scheme. Moreover, he noted that Hamas was actively pursuing the implementation of the Deal of the Century.
“Hamas still has a chance to return to the national and legitimate arms,” he remarked.
For his part, Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), warned Thursday that if Washington continues in its current policy, then Palestinians and Israelis are destined to remain in conflict for another century.
