PA slams U.S. for removing Palestinians from list of countries

The PA spokesperson added that the US administration’s move “emphasizes its isolation in wake of international recognition of the Palestinian state.”

AUGUST 25, 2019 22:32

PA President Mahmoud Abbas attends the Arab League's foreign ministers meeting to discuss unannounced U.S. blueprint for Israeli-Palestinian peace, in Cairo, Egypt, April 21, 2019. (photo credit: MOHAMED ABD EL GHANY/REUTERS) — PA President Mahmoud Abbas attends the Arab League's foreign ministers meeting to discuss unannounced U.S. blueprint for Israeli-Palestinian peace, in Cairo, Egypt, April 21, 2019.

(photo credit: MOHAMED ABD EL GHANY/REUTERS)

Palestinian officials on Sunday condemned the US State Department for deleting the Palestinian Authority from the list of countries on its website.

Until recently, the State Department’s list of countries and areas included the “Palestinian Authority.”

Nabil Abu Rudaineh, spokesperson for the PA presidency, said that the removal of any reference to the Palestinians from the list of countries is “consistent with the ideas of the Israeli extreme Right and an unprecedented descent in American foreign policy.”

The US move, he said, “comes in the context of desperate attempts to wipe out the Palestinian cause and people.”

Just noticed this: @StateDept has removed Palestinians completely from the Middle East. It used to be Palestinian territories or the Palestinian Authority. Now, Palestinians don't exist https://t.co/zCGNfuaizy pic.twitter.com/n59IMwTwHZ
— Aaron Magid (@AaronMagid) August 23, 2019

Abu Rudaineh said that the Palestinians reject and condemn the US move which, he added, “shows that the US administration is biased in favor of the Israeli occupation.” He further claimed that the move “reflects the content of the so-called American Deal of the Century” – reference to US President Donald Trump’s upcoming Middle East peace plan.

The PA spokesperson added that the US administration’s move “emphasizes its isolation in wake of international recognition of the Palestinian state.” The US administration, he said, “must know that there will be no peace, security and stability in the region without the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital on the June 4, 1967 borders.”

PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat also criticized the US move. “Cancelling Palestine (Palestinian Authority or Palestinian Territories) from the US State Department’s list is not related to American national interests,” he said. “The decision aims to support the schemes of the Israeli Council of Settlements.”

The PA Foreign Ministry in Ramallah accused the US administration of “implementing the Israeli vision of destroying the two-state solution and whitewashing the occupation.” The ministry said that the US move will not change anything, and again demonstrates the US administration’s “total bias in favor of the occupation and how it has lost its credibility.”

The ministry accused the US administration of being hostile toward the Palestinians and their rights and of carrying out a policy aimed at “liquidating the Palestinian cause.”