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Palestinians threaten violence if US recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital

The Palestinians are threatening to react with violence if Trump recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. 

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

The Palestinians are threatening violence if President Donald Trump announces official US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a move they say will be the final death blow to the stagnant peace process.

Palestinian spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said on Friday that US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem are “equally dangerous to the future of the peace process and would take the region into the square of instability,” the Palestinian official WAFA news agency reported.

Abu Rudeineh said earlier that “east Jerusalem, with its holy places, is the start and the end for any solution that would save the region from destruction.” He stressed that “any just solution” to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict should ensure that east Jerusalem is the capital of an independent Palestinian state, adding that “failure to reach a solution to the Palestinian issue will prolong the state of tension, chaos and violence that are prevalent in the region and the world.”

He claimed that the region is facing difficult choices and that these serious challenges “affect the essence of the entire Arab existence.”

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If Trump were to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, it would amount to a “complete destruction of the peace process,” Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ adviser, Mahmoud Habash, said Saturday.

Hamas warns of new ‘Jerusalem intifada’

US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel would “renew the Jerusalem intifada,” Hamas stated on Saturday, referring to the wave of Palestinian terror that began in September 2015, also known as the “knife intifada.”

Speaking in Abbas’ presence, Habash said “the world will pay the price” for any change in Jerusalem’s status.

Reports indicate that Trump is also weighing the possibility of fulfilling his campaign pledge of moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“This is a premature report. We have nothing to announce,” said White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.

In a speech on Tuesday marking the 70th anniversary of UN Resolution 181, which voted in favor of the partition of the British-ruled Palestine Mandate into a Jewish state and an Arab state, Vice President Mike Pence said that Trump is “actively considering” moving the embassy.

JNS.org and AP contributed to this report.