Top PA official blasts Trump for pledging ‘undivided’ Jerusalem

The top Palestinian negotiator takes Donald Trump to task over the Republican US presidential nominee’s comments on Jerusalem after a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Mr. Trump’s statement shows disregard for international law, longstanding U.S. foreign policy regarding the status of Jerusalem, including the occupation and illegal annexation of occupied East Jerusalem, as well as hundreds of millions of Arabs, including Palestinians Christians and Muslims,” Saeb Erekat says in a statement.

Trump had told Netanyahu Sunday that if elected president, he would recognize Jerusalem as the “undivided capital” of Israel.

“Mr. Trump acknowledged that Jerusalem has been the eternal capital of the Jewish People for over 3,000 years, and that the United States, under a Trump administration, will finally accept the long-standing Congressional mandate to recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the State of Israel,” a statement from the Trump campaign said after the meeting.

Erekat says Trump’s statement “also neglects the calls made by millions of US citizens for peace between Israel and Palestine based on freedom, justice and equality.

“Previous statements delivered by his adviser on Israel show a total abandonment of the two-state solution, international law and UN resolutions, and underscores the urgency of [PA] President [Mahmoud] Abbas’s call at the General Assembly for the international community to bring an end to the occupation and salvage the two-state solution before it is too late,” he says.

— Raphael Ahren contributed