PLO official slams Trump's Jerusalem al-Quds remarks as 'useless'

A high-ranking Palestinian official has condemned as "useless" US President Donald Trump's remarks on Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s capital.

"Trump's remarks express the biased US policy towards Israel and a continuation of the US illusions, which include passing the new peace 'Deal of Century' without Jerusalem being the capital for the Palestinian state," said senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Ahmad al-Tamimi, on Wednesday.

The so-called deal, a backchannel plan to allegedly reach a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, was proposed by the US administration late last year. Although the plan has not been released, leaks signal it will consist of the same tried and failed ideas.

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"Trump won't be able to remove the issue of Jerusalem al-Quds from the hearts of the Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims," added Tamimi.   

The US embassy relocation took place on May 14, the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Nakba Day (the Day of Catastrophe), sparking deadly clashes in the besieged Gaza Strip.

PressTV- World reacts to US embassy move, Israeli carnage

Both friends and foes of the United States voice criticism as Washington opens its embassy in Jerusalem al-Quds.

'Very dangerous move'

Meanwhile, the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas described Trump's decision to remove Jerusalem al-Quds from the Palestinian-Israeli talks as "very dangerous."

"There should be a firm and strict Palestinian response like withdrawing the recognition of Israel, cancelling the security partnership and severing all contacts and ties with the US administration," said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.

Addressing his supporters in the United States on Tuesday, Trump claimed the embassy move had eased future negotiations.

"If there's ever going to be peace -- remember I said if -- with the Palestinians, it was a good thing to have done because we took it off the table, because every time there were peace talks they never got past Jerusalem," Trump said.

"And you know what, in the (future) negotiations Israel will have to pay a higher price because they won a very big thing," he added.

"Now (Jerusalem's) off the table, there is nothing to negotiate. But they (the Palestinians) will get something very good because it's their turn next," he further noted.

Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton also said that he hoped the Palestinian Authority would forget about the embassy relocation issue.

"As a dealmaker, as a bargainer, he would expect, you would expect, I would expect that the Palestinians would say 'ok, great, so we didn't get that one, now we want something else, and we'll see how it goes'," said Bolton.

Condemning Bolton's comments, Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary General Saeb Erekat stressed that Jerusalem al-Quds has to be the capital of a Palestinian state.

"The words of Bolton are nonsense and don't correspond to reality," said Erekat.

"You cannot talk about peace without Jerusalem al-Quds being the capital of an independent Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 borders," he added.

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