Abbas calls US officials ‘liars’ over Gaza situation

Abbas had harsh words for US officials as new suggestions surfaced to address the current situation in the coastal enclave.

By: AP and World Israel News Staff

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas lashed out at the United States over its proposals to alleviate the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Abbas in a speech on Wednesday said of US officials, “I swear to God, they are liars.”

Abbas added that he believes the US is trying to promote Gaza aid projects to serve its own interests.

Palestinians have been split since the Islamic terror group Hamas seized Gaza in 2007, ousting Abbas’s forces. Abbas now governs only the portions of Judea and Samaria that are not under Israeli control. Repeated reconciliation attempts have thus failed between Abbas’ Fatah faction and Hamas, which have developed into bitter rivals.

President Donald Trump promised to pursue the “ultimate deal” between the Palestinians and Israel, sending envoys Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt to visit a number of Middle Eastern countries to discuss details of the as-yet unreleased plan.

The Palestinians, however, rejected the US as a peace-broker following Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his subsequent move of the US embassy there.

The Palestinians also vowed to resist legislation passed in the US and Israel designed to shut down the Palestinian Authority’s official policy of compensating with lifetime salaries imprisoned terrorists and the families of those killed committing acts of terror.

The US law, titled the Taylor Force Act after an American veteran who was stabbed to death in Tel Aviv by a Palestinian terrorist, conditions US aid on the Palestinians’ discontinuing the terror stipend policy.

In response, Abbas recently announced that he would use the PA’s “last penny” to pay the terror stipends.