PA: We did not cut contact with US completely

Contacts between the Palestinian Authority and the US administration are ongoing however they were scaled back following America’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a senior PA official said yesterday.

Nabil Shaath told Russia’s Sputnik news site: “There are contacts, but they are limited.”

“At the end, we have a diplomatic mission in Washington and the Americans threatened to close it, but they did not do that.”

He stressed: “We do not have a political dialogue. There are different issues: visas, trade and other things that maintain continuous interaction.”

Shaath also said: “We completely reject [US President Donald] Trump’s statements about Jerusalem and his attempts to take the issue of the Holy City and refugees off the table. We reject reducing aid to the UN agency for Palestine refugees. We are against all of this.”

The PA is working with foreign partners, especially Russia, to lay down a multi-frame reconciliation with Israel, he added, noting that there would be discussions for other “long-term choices” in relation to the US monopoly of the peace process.

He stressed that the US has become “unfair” as it supports only one side.

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