Palestinians to reconsider recognition of Israel

Palestinian leaders on Monday called on the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to suspend recognition of Israel following recent developments over the status of Jerusalem.

Members of the Palestine Central Council, a high-ranking body within the PLO -- an umbrella group that includes most major Palestinian political factions -- voted to call for the suspension at a major meeting in Ramallah.

The two-day meeting was opened Sunday under the title “Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the State of Palestine" to discuss means of countering a recent U.S. decision to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The council asked the executive committee to reconsider the recognition of the State of Israel until it recognizes the State of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital.

Read by the president of the Central Council, Salim Al-Za’noun, the resolution said the transitional period stipulated in the agreements signed in Oslo in 1993 was no longer valid.

The Council also resolved “to condemn and reject the decision of U.S. President Donald Trump [in] recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and transferring his country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem".

"The Council considered that the U.S. administration, by announcing this decision, has lost its eligibility to function as a mediator and sponsor of the peace process and will not be a partner in this process unless the decision is reversed."

The Central Council also called on "the international community to assume its responsibilities on the basis of relevant UN resolutions to end the occupation and enable the State of Palestine to achieve its independence and to exercise its full sovereignty over its territory, including its capital, East Jerusalem, on the borders of 4 June 1967".

Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Middle East conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem -- occupied by Israel -- might eventually serve as the capital of an independent Palestinian state.