Palestinians Slam Romney for Jerusalem Comment
A former Palestinian chief negotiator said that Mitt Romney’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was “unacceptable.”
The official, Saeb Erekat, said that Romney’s statement during a policy speech on Sunday, in which he said that Jerusalem is “the capital of Israel,” goes against years of U.S. policy. The status of Jerusalem is one of the most sensitive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, as both sides claim it as a capital.
“At the end of the day, the U.S. has interests in this region, it has embassies in 57 Arab and Muslim countries,” Erekat told the Associated Press. “I don’t think they will sacrifice everything for such statements, mere disturbing statements that will strengthen extremists in the region.”
Erekat helped negotiate the Oslo Accords between the U.S. and Israel in 1993, and resigned as Palestinian chief negotiator in 2011. He remains an aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
During a trip to Israel on Sunday and Monday, Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, met with several Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres. He also met with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. He did not meet with Abbas, nor did he mention the Palestinians once during Sunday’s policy speech.
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
