Abbas aide: PA not severing ties with US over Jerusalem

A senior adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says contacts with the United States on the peace process are “interrupted,” though the channels remain open on other matters.

“We are not cutting our relationship with America. We are protesting the move of Mr. Trump,” Abbas’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Nabil Sha’ath tells The Times of Israel in a phone interview, referring to the US president’s recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“We think Mr. Trump has acted in a way that makes it impossible for the United States to act as an honest broker. We are just expressing that,” he adds.  “We still have a delegation in Washington. There are matters with which communication is still continuing. Communication about the peace process is interrupted.”

— Dov Lieber