Trump threatens to withhold further Palestinian aid
January 25, 2018
US President Donald Trump on Thursday urged the Palestinian leadership to keep up peace negotiations with Israel or risk losing hundreds of millions of dollars in financial aid.
Read more: Palestinian leaders seek to suspend recognition of Israel
"We give them hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and support, tremendous numbers, numbers that nobody understands — that money is on the table and that money is not going to them unless they sit down and negotiate peace," Trump said after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Palestinian officials shunned Pence during his visit to Jerusalem last week in a response to Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The holy city's status is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel sees Jerusalem as its eternal and indivisible capital, although only a handful of other countries recognize it as such. Palestinians meanwhile, see East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Disagreement over the United States as peace negotiator
Netanyahu praised Trump for his stance, stating that the US president "offers a refreshing point of view."
"[Trump] said 'we're not going to let you just walk away ... We want to see you enter the room and negotiate peace,'" the Israeli prime minister said. Netanyahu also added that the US is the only entity capable of negotiating an agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.
"There's no other international body that would do it," he said. "It's a fantasy to think that you could get somebody else."
However, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas responded to Trump's statements on Thursday, saying that Palestinian officials would not meet with members of the US administration until it withdrew its recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.
"If the American administration will not go back on their decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, it will remain outside the [negotiation] table," Nabil Abu Rudeina said.
Read more: What would Donald Trump ending US aid mean for Palestinians?
Abbas has previously described Trump's Jerusalem declaration as the "slap of the century" and rejected any role for the US as a broker in future negotiations.
Another Palestinian official said, "Not meeting your oppressor is not a sign of disrespect; it is a sign of self-respect."
Trump has already suspended tens of millions of dollars in aid to the United Nations agency tasked with assisting Palestinian refugees. His administration said it would continue providing $60 million (€48.4 million) while withholding $65 million until the UN body undertakes a "fundamental re-examination."
Trump preparing peace proposal
Despite the regional upheaval and waves of protests that Trump's Jerusalem declaration provoked, the president insisted that the US and Israel remained determined to find a peaceful solution.
Read more: Jerusalem: Three things to know
Trump also promised that his administration was preparing a peace proposal that would prove to be a "great proposal for Palestinians" covering "a lot of the things that were over the years discussed or agreed on," without elaborating.
Earlier at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Jordan's King Abdullah said he understood why the Palestinians felt the US could no longer act as an honest broker in future negotiations but that he himself would "like to reserve judgment because we're still waiting for the Americans to come out with their plan."
cmb, dm/sms (AP, AFP, dpa)