Just days after a fiery speech in which Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas called peace efforts by President Donald Trump “a slap in the face” and cursed the Trump administration by declaring, “May your house be destroyed,” Abbas continued his rhetoric at a conference focused on Jerusalem at Al-Azhar University in Cairo.
“Jerusalem is the key to peace if it is our capital, and if it is not, then it is the key to war. Trump will need to choose,” Abbas said.
Abbas stated that Trump has “openly and blatantly provoked millions of Muslims” by officially recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December, a move that Abbas called “sinful.”
“There is no such thing as a Palestinian who will give up even one millimeter of Jerusalem,” he claimed.
Abbas called for the rejection of American and Israeli policies, and said that “a popular and peaceful resistance is the path that will succeed and that we will continue on.” Meanwhile, Abbas’s PA is openly supporting violent resistance. According to Palestinian Media Watch, the PA last week celebrated “Palestinian Martyrs Day” in its de facto capital of Ramallah.
At a speech marking the event, PA Justice Minister Ali Abu Diyak castigated Trump’s “attempts to steal from Jerusalem its Arabness and Palestinian national identity” with his decision to recognize the city as Israel’s capital. Diyak said, “Martyrs are the conscience of the people, the pioneers of the freedom struggle.”
