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PLO calls for Arab countries to boycott US over Jerusalem decision

January 22, 2018 at 2:56 pm

Palestinians gather to protest against a visit to Israel by US Vice President Mike Pence, in Bethlehem, West Bank on 21 January 2018 [Mamoun Wazwaz/Anadolu Agency]

Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Executive Committee member Saleh Ra’fat called on Sunday for Egypt, Jordan and other Arab countries to cut their relations with the United States in response to the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Anadolu reported.

In a statement, Ra’fat said that the call was “based on the Arab League resolutions which called for cutting relations with any state that recognises Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”

Meanwhile, the PLO official called for the rejection of any American proposals for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that do not call on Israel, “the occupying power, to withdraw from all the lands it occupied in 1967.”

Ra’fat’s call coincided the visit of US Vice President Mike Pence to Egypt, Jordan and Israel. Pence struck a visit to the Palestinian territories from his tour in the Middle East, after the Palestinian Authority (PA) announced it would not receive him.

Pence, who claimed that peace became easier after removing Jerusalem from the agenda of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, discussed the prospects of the peace process with the Egyptian president and the Jordanian monarch.

Read: Israeli army considers seizing Palestinian areas in Jerusalem

In response, the PLO official said it was “distressing” for Pence to be received in Egypt and Jordan “after his remarks made about Jerusalem on the eve of his visit.”

Upon his arrival to Israel, Pence was thanked by Israeli officials for his support for the US decision. Pence will meet Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.