US President Donald Trump in Davos, eastern Switzerland, on January 25,
2018. He has accused Palestine of disrespecting the US and threatened to
withhold aid if it does not agree to a peace negotiation. PHOTO |
NICHOLAS KAMM | AFP
President Donald Trump on Thursday accused Palestinians of
disrespecting the United States and threatened to withhold aid worth
hundreds of millions of dollars until they accede to US-brokered talks.
In
a significant sharpening of his rhetoric against the leadership in
Ramallah, Trump said the Palestinians had "disrespected us a week ago by
not allowing our great vice president to see them."
"We
give them hundreds of millions," Trump said during a meeting with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Davos, Switzerland.
"That money is not going to them unless they sit down and negotiate peace."
The
Trump administration is pressing sceptical Palestinians to enter a
US-sponsored peace process that has so far appeared to offer much to
their arch-foes Israel.
Palestinians
were especially enraged by Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as
Israel's capital — which broke with decades of international consensus
that the city would be the subject of negotiation.
Amid deadly unrest and fierce political
pressure at home, Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas responded by
cancelling a planned meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence, who
visited Egypt, Israel and Jordan.
'Oppressor'
The Palestinians rejected Trump's threat on Thursday, with one senior official labelling him an "oppressor".
A
spokesman for president Mahmud Abbas said they would not meet with the
US administration until it withdrew its recognition of Jerusalem as
Israel's capital.
"If the American
administration will not go back on their decision to recognise Jerusalem
as the capital of Israel, it will remain outside the (negotiation)
table," Nabil Abu Rudeina said.
Another
senior Palestinian official, Hanan Ashrawi, told AFP "not meeting your
oppressor is not a sign of disrespect; it is a sign of self-respect."
Trump insisted that he could still be an honest broker.
"We
have a proposal for peace. It is a great proposal for the
Palestinians," Trump said, adding that Israel would also be forced to
make concessions.
But the US
president also doubled down, saying he would move the American embassy
to Jerusalem as soon as next year, despite no suitably sized building
existing.
"We anticipate having a small version of it open sometime next year," Trump said.
Negotiations
Netanyahu
warmly welcomed Trump's "historic decision", saying it "recognises
history, recognises a certain reality, built on the basis of truth."
Netanyahu,
bolstered by Trump's unstinting support, later said he was willing to
enter talks, but accused the Palestinians of avoiding negotiations.
Abbas has sought an internationally led process, accusing the Trump administration of blatant bias.
"Here, I think President Trump offers a refreshing point of view," Netanyahu said.
"He said 'we're not going to let you just walk away... We want to see you enter the room and negotiate peace'."
Netanyahu
added that "I think there's no substitute for the United States as the
honest broker, as the facilitator. There's no other international body
that would do it. It's a fantasy to think that you could get somebody
else."
While Trump was speaking in Davos, his
ambassador at the UN Nikki Haley was also turning up the heat on the
82-year-old Palestinian leader, Abbas.
Haley accused the veteran Palestinian president of lacking the courage needed for a peace deal.
"To get historic results, we need courageous leaders," she said.
The
United States remains "deeply committed" to an Israeli-Palestinian
peace deal, Haley said, "but we will not chase after a Palestinian
leadership that lacks what is needed to achieve peace."
Earlier
this month Abbas accused Trump of trying to make the Palestinians a
scapegoat, by painting them as rejecting talks that did not exist.
"Shame on you," he said at the time.
He denounced Trump's peace efforts as the "slap of the century".
Trump said he had not seen those remarks.
"I think I'm probably better off not seeing them," the US president said.
"You
know what, it's many years of killing people. It's many years of
killing each other. They have to be tired and disgusted of it," he
added.
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