Abbas Appeals to Putin on US Embassy Move
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Palestinians stepped up their campaign to prevent US President-elect Donald Trump from carrying out his pledge to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to al-Quds (Jerusalem).
President of Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas asked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for help, while the grand mufti of al-Quds told worshippers the move would constitute an assault against Muslims worldwide.
Palestine considers such a move as recognition of al-Quds as Israeli regime's capital, warning it would inflame tensions in the Middle East and possibly sink what remains of peace efforts.
In his Friday sermon at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Israeli-occupied East al-Quds's Old City, Sheikh Mohammad Hussein warned that believers around the world would not accept such a move.
“The pledge to move the embassy is not just an assault against Palestinians but against Arabs and Muslims, who will not remain silent,” he said.
“The transfer of the embassy violates international charters and norms that recognize Jerusalem (al-Quds) as an occupied city,” Hussein said in his sermon, without naming Trump.
Palestinian leaders had called for the weekly Friday prayers at mosques across the Middle East this week to protest Trump’s campaign pledge, AFP reported.
In Moscow, top Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said he had passed on a request of help from Abbas to Putin. “The letter asks President Putin to do what he can about the information we have that President-elect Donald Trump will move the embassy to Jerusalem which for us is a red line and dangerous,” he said after meeting Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Abbas has also written to Trump urging him not to move the embassy.
Previous US presidents, including George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, reneged on election commitments to move the embassy to al-Quds.
Last month, Erekat warned of regional turmoil if Trump were to move the embassy, noting however he “didn’t think they will do it.”
Senior official Mohammad Shtayyeh Tuesday said the Palestinian leadership had been informed by diplomatic contacts that Trump could call for the move in his inauguration speech on Jan. 20.