RAMALLAH: The Palestinians’ top negotiator said Tuesday there could be no discussions with US President Donald Trump’s administration until his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is reversed.
Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinians’ longtime chief negotiator, told AFP in an interview the decision was “part of a new American era of moving from negotiation to dictation.”
Trump’s December 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital set off protests among Palestinians, who consider the city to be their capital as well.
Erekat’s comments come with rhetoric further sharpening between Trump’s White House and the Palestinians, who have said the United States can no longer mediate in the Middle East conflict and boycotted a recent visit by US Vice President Mike Pence.
Last week, Trump accused the Palestinians of disrespecting the United States and threatened to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in aid until they returned to the negotiating table.
Provoking Palestinian outrage, he reaffirmed his Jerusalem decision and said the disputed city had been taken “off the table,” despite having previously said his recognition did not preclude later negotiations on its borders.
Trump made the comments in Davos, Switzerland, while seated next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to Erekat, the Palestinians — faced with what they see as a blatantly biased US administration — are aiming to convene an international conference in an effort to show global support for a two-state solution to the conflict.
Asked whether there can be any contact with the Trump administration if the Jerusalem decision is not reversed, Erekat said: “How can you?“
“You heard what President Trump said in Davos. He said: ‘We took Jerusalem off the table’.”
“The minute any Palestinian goes and meets with American officials, it is an acceptance of their decision. Now they are threatening us with money, with aid,” he said.
“They promised not to impose any solution, and now they want the meeting for the sake of the meeting.”
Erekat said it was as if they were telling the Palestinians, “Come here boy, we know what’s good for you.”
Jerusalem’s status is perhaps the most sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern sector as the capital of their future state.
Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it, a move never recognized by the international community.
Trump’s unilateral recognition broke with decades of international consensus that the city’s status must be negotiated between the two sides.
The US leader says he still intends to reach what he has called the “ultimate deal” — Israeli-Palestinian peace — but Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has called his efforts the “slap of the century.”
The Trump administration also hit out at Abbas last week, with UN ambassador Nikki Haley saying he lacked the courage needed for a peace deal.
Erekat likened her comments to a call for a “coup d’etat.”
No talks with US until Jerusalem move reversed: Palestinian official
No talks with US until Jerusalem move reversed: Palestinian official
Algeria inaugurates strategic railway to giant Sahara mine
- The mine is expected to produce 4 million tons per year during the initial phase, with production projected to triple to 12 million tons per year by 2030
- The project is financed by the Algerian state and partly built by a Chinese consortium
ALGEIRS: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Sunday inaugurated a nearly 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) desert railway to transport iron ore from a giant mine, a project he called one of the biggest in the country’s history.
The line will bring iron ore from the Gara Djebilet deposit in the south to the city of Bechar located 950 kilometers north, to be taken to a steel production plant near Oran further north.
The project is financed by the Algerian state and partly built by a Chinese consortium.
During the inauguration, Tebboune described it as “one of the largest strategic projects in the history of independent Algeria.”
This project aims to increase Algeria’s iron ore extraction capacity, as the country aspires to become one of Africa’s leading steel producers.
The iron ore deposit is also seen as a key driver of Algeria’s economic diversification as it seeks to reduce its reliance on hydrocarbons, according to experts.
President Tebboune attended an inauguration ceremony in Bechar, welcoming the first passenger train from Tindouf in southern Algeria and sending toward the north a first charge of iron ore, according to footage broadcast on national television.
The mine is expected to produce 4 million tons per year during the initial phase, with production projected to triple to 12 million tons per year by 2030, according to estimates by the state-owned Feraal Group, which manages the site.
It is then expected to reach 50 million tons per year in the long term, it said.
The start of operations at the mine will allow Algeria to drastically reduce its iron ore imports and save $1.2 billion per year, according to Algerian media.
