Palestinian Authority: We'll work with any US president to achieve peace

Trump has expressed support for positions in conflict with the Palestinian leadership such as moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and supporting Israel’s annexation of land in the West Bank.

By ADAM RASGON
Updated: NOVEMBER 10, 2016 00:47
Donald Trump victory speech
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas congratulated US president-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday and said he hoped a just peace would be achieved during his term in office, Wafa, the official PA news site, reported.
Earlier Wednesday morning, PA spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh said the Palestinian leadership would work with any US president to achieve peace.
“We will work with any president the American people elect to achieve peace in the Middle East on the basis of the two-state solution along 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine,” he told Wafa.
Trump has expressed support for positions that conflict with those of the Palestinian leadership, such as moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and supporting Israel’s annexation of territories in the West Bank.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the Palestinians continued to suffer because of biased US policy in favor of Israel, but called on Trump “to reevaluate policy and work on bringing justice to the Palestinians.”
PLO Executive Committee secretary-general Saeb Erekat said he hoped the incoming administration would take actions to achieve a two-state solution.
“We hope that the forthcoming American administration will turn talk about the twostate solution into realizing it on the ground, because security, peace and stability in this region will not happen without the defeat of the Israeli occupation...
and the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Erekat, who also serves as a close adviser to Abbas, told Wafa.
He strongly criticized Trump in late September for supporting the relocation of the embassy, saying the then-candidate’s position showed “disregard for international law and longstanding US foreign policy regarding the status of Jerusalem.”
PLO Executive Committee member Wasel Abu Yousif struck a more pessimistic tone, saying the Palestinian leadership had no preference for Trump or Clinton.
“There is no difference between the Democratic and Republican parties when it comes to the Palestinian issue,” Abu Yousif told The Jerusalem Post. “We do not rely on the election of one party or the other.”
He added that while some might think the Democratic Party was better for the Palestinian issue, many examples, such as continued settlement expansion and the approval of a $38 billion military aid package to Israel under President Barack Obama, proved otherwise.