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PLO, Hamas praise Biden win, condemn Trump

The Palestinians are delighted to see Trump out and Biden in.

By David Isaac, World Israel News

Palestinian Authority and Hamas leaders welcomed the news of Democratic challenger Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential elections.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas said, “I look forward to working with President-elect Biden and his government to strengthen Palestinian-American relations and achieve freedom and independence, justice and dignity for our people, as well as to work for peace, stability and security for all in our region and the world.”

From the PA’s perspective, the Trump administration was the worst it has encountered. The PA cut ties with the administration when the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017.

The Trump administration reversed decades of U.S. policy, which had put the onus for a failure to reach a peace agreement on Israel while ignoring Palestinian intransigence. Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. held the PA responsible, cutting off its funding for its continued support of terror.

“Nothing was worse than Trump’s era, his departure is a gain,” Senior PLO official Nabil Shaath said.

Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Hamas terrorist group, which rules the Gaza Strip, said: “U.S. President Donald Trump, who sought to obliterate Palestine’s cause, has gone and Jerusalem will not go.”

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“The Trump administration was the most extreme in its support for Israel at the expense of Palestinian rights. We call on President-elect Joe Biden to make a historic correction to the discriminatory American policy toward the Palestinian people that has caused instability in the region and the world,” Haniyeh added.

The PA appears to want to forget the Trump administration as if it were a bad dream. According to Israel Hayom, a senior official with Abbas said that the PA wants to resume negotiations where they left off when President Barack Obama departed the White House in 2016.

The official also said Abbas wants the U.S. to return its embassy to Tel Aviv. Trump moved the embassy to Israel’s capital two years ago. Biden said during the campaign that he wouldn’t move the embassy back even though he opposed the embassy’s transfer to Jerusalem.