RAMALLAH – Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas today called on US president-elect Joe Biden to “enhance” relations between Palestinians and Washington, which collapsed during Donald Trump’s term in office.
In a statement congratulating Biden and vice-president-elect Kamala Harris, Abbas said he hopes to work with the incoming administration “to enhance Palestinian-American relations, and achieve freedom, independence, justice and dignity for our people”.
Abbas heads the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, which broke ties with Trump’s administration, accusing it of being flagrantly pro-Israel.
Trump had cut funding to UNRWA, the United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees.
He also rejected the notion that Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem should serve as the capital of a future Palestinian state, instead recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s “undivided capital”.
He avoided criticising Jewish settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, breaking with decades of US policy that settlement expansion is an obstacle to peace.
In January, Trump unveiled a controversial Middle East peace plan made without input from the Palestinians, who rejected it outright. – AFP, November 8, 2020
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