Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Friday that he would “no longer accept” any peace plan proposed by the U.S., dealing a pre-emptive blow to a fresh initiative expected by Washington next year.
The comments in Paris came hours after 128 members of the UN voted to condemn U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision on December 6 to unilaterally recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
That move continues to reverberate in West Asia and European diplomats are pessimistic about the Trump administration’s peace plan, which is being prepared behind closed doors and will be presented to both sides in 2018.
U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence postponed a trip he was due to make to the region this week, after Palestinian and Arab Christian leaders expressed reluctance to meet him.
“The U.S. has proven to be a dishonest mediator in the peace process and we will no longer accept any plan from it,” Mr. Abbas told a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron.
President Abbas hit out at efforts by the US to intimidate countries ahead of the UN vote. “I hope that the others will learn the lesson and understand that you cannot impose solutions by using money and trying to buy off countries.”
