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‘Everyone is mourning’: Palestinian media reacts to Trump

A PA official also acknowledged that Palestinian state-controlled media has been very circumspect in its coverage of Trump’s election victory.

By Baruch Yedid, TPS

Faced with President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Palestinian leaders in Ramallah acknowledged they will have to significantly change their policies.

A high-ranking Palestinian Authority official told The Press Service of Israel that frustration is running high in Ramallah.

Four years of what was expected to be a friendly Biden administration, the PA was unable to obtain the reopening of the US consulate in Jerusalem, nor the reopening of Palestine Liberation Offices in Washington.

He also acknowledged to TPS-IL that Palestinian state-controlled media has been very circumspect in its coverage of Trump’s election victory.

“The reason is technical and nothing more. They are careful not to publish anything that is not definitive,” the official told TPS-IL.

“But the truth is that everyone is mourning because they are now orphans and there is no one who can support them or at least hinder the Netanyahu government. We are very afraid of what Trump might do.”

Coverage in the PA’s official Wafa news service and official daily paper, Al-Hayat al-Jadida focused on official messages of congratulations that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other world leaders sent Trump.

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But even that was not reported till late in the day. For reasons of Arab cultural protocol, Abbas’s letter could not be released to the public ahead of Egyptian President Abd el-Fattah el-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah’s messages.

The PA official explained that Jordan is a kingdom and Egypt is an ancient and important country, giving their leaders greater status than the Palestinian’s.