Palestinian official threatens bloodshed over Trump ‘settlements’ policy

A senior PA official threatened more bloodshed and a confrontation with Trump over the incoming administration’s policy on settlements. 

A senior adviser to Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas suggested on Egypt’s Alghad TV on Sunday that Palestinians should “prepare for a confrontation” with US President-elect Trump when he moves into the White House.

“We must prepare for a confrontation with the new US administration, which has clearly and audaciously declared that Israel and its settlements are legitimate and legal and has sent a delegation in order to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” said Sultan Abu al-Einein, a Fatah Central Committee member, according to a translation provided by the Middle East Media and Research Institute (MEMRI).

Trump’s Israel adviser, Jason Greenblatt, made it clear shortly after the 2016 US election that the president-elect does not view Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria as obstacles to peace.

David Friedman, appointed by Trump as US ambassador to Israel, has stated that he “look[s] forward to working from the US embassy in Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.”

Al-Einein contended that such policy positions would lead to Palestinian bloodshed throughout Judea and Samaria.

“I believe that any American act of stupidity will ignite the Palestinian territories and that the US administration, along with the Israeli arrogance in continuing its settlement activity, will bear responsibility for a return of bloodshed in the Palestinian territories,” he stated.

A few weeks ago, senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat claimed that moving the US embassy to Jerusalem would completely destroy the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

By: Jonathan Benedek, World Israel News

David FriedmanDonald TrumpJason GreenblattJudea and SamariaPalestinian AuthorityUS embassy