Palestinians will not accept any US role in peace process 'from now on', says Mahmoud Abbas

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that Palestinians will no longer accept any American role in the Middle East peace process after US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the Independent reports.

Mr Trump's announcement was a "crime" that threatens world peace, the Palestinian Authority leader said on Wednesday, calling on the United Nations to revamp the stalled mechanism now that the US is "unfit" for leading peace efforts. 

 

While Palestinians remain committed to peace, Washington can no longer be accepted as a "fair negotiator", he said, having provoked Muslim and Christian sentiments over the future of the holy city.

He added that new measures are needed to protect the identity of the divided city, which is claimed by both the Israelis and the Palestinians, and that in the light of the US' move in Israel's favour, the world must accept the legitimacy of a Palestinian state

Mr Abbas spoke at an extraordinary Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Istanbul, a 57-member strong conference expected to hammer out a unified response from the Muslim world to the US' unprecedented move.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day war, a move that was never internationally recognised. Control of it remains one of the core stumbling blocks to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.