Palestinians blast Trump’s ‘Zionist American’ peace envoy

Times of Israel ^ | 5/2/18 | Khaled Abu Toameh

[Eleutheria5]

The Palestinian Authority said Monday that Greenblatt’s efforts to achieve peace between the Palestinians and Israel “have no chances of succeeding.”

The Palestinians are particularly angered at what they believe is a US effort to replace the current leadership of the PA.

Greenblatt, in a speech before the annual conference of the Institute for National Strategic Studies, said that the United States “is as committed as ever to reaching an agreement that guarantees a peaceful, prosperous future for both Israelis and Palestinians. That’s why this administration continues to work on developing a peace plan that can bring both parties to the table.”

He added, “It is easy to walk away from the table. But that helps no one and reduces or perhaps even eliminates the chances of achieving a comprehensive peace agreement, and that would be terrible for the Palestinian people.”

Greenblatt also defended US President Donald Trump’s December 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. “When President Trump made his historic decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, he was not rewriting history, he was recognizing a historic reality,” he said.

Greenblatt dismissed Palestinian charges that Trump’s move was an attempt to determine a final status outcome. “The president was absolutely clear that the United States has not prejudiced any final status issues, including the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem,” he said.

At a meeting in Brussels of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, a 15-member body that serves as the principal policy-level coordination mechanism for development assistance to the Palestinians, the US envoy dismissed allegations that the Trump administration was sabotaging development by threatening to cut funding to the Palestinians.

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In Ramallah, the PA Foreign Ministry accused the “Zionist American” Greenblatt of endorsing the positions of the extremists in Israel.

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[SJackson]

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Palestinian negotiating techniques at work.