Former PLO envoy in US takes over as top Palestinian diplomat in UK

Husam Zomlot, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s former top diplomat in Washington, DC, has taken on the role of head of the PLO’s mission in the United Kingdom.

Zomlot arrived in London last week, less than a month after US President Donald Trump’s administration ordered the PLO representative office in Washington closed.

“Today I took over as Palestine’s ambassador in Britain. My first meeting was with the Arab League Ambassador in London Ibrahim Mahi al-Din, a friend of Palestine,” Zomlot posted on his Facebook page on Monday.

He replaced Manuel Hassassian, who served as the head of the PLO mission in London for more than 10 years.

Zomlot has previously spent considerable time in London, earning a masters at the London School of Economics and a doctorate at the University of London, and serving briefly as charge d’affaires at the PLO mission in the UK.

He also has ties with a number of politicians in London whom he met as a graduate student there.

On Tuesday, Zomlot is slated to attend a major gathering of the Conservative Party, the UK’s ruling party, in Birmingham.

The Palestinians have recently been asking European countries, including the UK, to recognize a Palestinian state.

More than 135 countries recognize a state of Palestine, but large world powers including the US, France, the UK and others have not made such a move.

Israel has long held that recognizing a Palestinian state will harden the Palestinians’ negotiating positions, making it more difficult to reach a final peace agreement.