Peace Now says Trump announcement ‘bad news for Israel’

The Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now considers Trump’s Wednesday declaration “a unilateral move that harms the prospects for peace.”

“It would have been expected from a true friend of Israel to act in accordance with Israeli interests, which are an agreement based on a two-state solution and recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the Palestinian neighborhoods (in East Jerusalem) as the capital of the Palestinian state,” the group says in a statement.

The group says Trump “intensified the international controversy and condemnation around Jerusalem and it is doubtful whether he will be able to serve as an honest mediator between the sides.”

“If these are the consequences of unilateral recognition of Jerusalem, this is bad news for the State of Israel and a cause for celebration in the extreme right which aspires to drag Israel into a dangerous messianic mess,” Peace Now says.