Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas railed at U.S. President Donald Trump in a fiery, two-hour speech on Sunday, castigating him for his treatment of the Palestinians and warning that the Palestinian leadership will have no problem rejecting an unacceptable peace plan.
Abbas' speech ratcheted up more than a month of harsh rhetoric toward Trump since the president's Dec. 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Relations between Washington and Ramallah have sunk to a new low, boding poorly for a peace plan the White House has promised to present.
Speaking to the Palestinian Central Council, a decision-making body, in Ramallah, Abbas repeated the Palestinian Authority's opposition to Trump's Jerusalem move and censured him for accusing the Palestinians of refusing to negotiate with Israel.
"He [Trump] said in a tweet: 'We won't give money to the Palestinians because they rejected the negotiations,'" Abbas said. "Shame on you! When did we reject the talks? Where is the negotiation that we rejected?"
Abbas said that by siding with the Israelis on the issue of Jerusalem – perhaps the thorniest point of the peace talks, which have been frozen since 2014 – Trump has destroyed the United States' credibility as a peace broker in the Middle East.
"We can say no to anyone if things are related to our fate and our people, and now we have said no to Trump," Abbas said. "We told him the deal of the century was the slap of the century. But we will slap back."
Using unprecedentedly harsh language, Abbas said, "Trump, 'ikhrab beitak'" – an Arabic curse meaning "may your house be destroyed."
Trump "stabbed the Palestinians in the back," he said. "If he thinks we'll give up, he is wrong. Jerusalem is the Palestinian capital and we will not accept any alternatives. … We are at a critical crossroads. The future of the Palestinian issue is at stake."
Abbas also blasted European leaders, blaming them for "sending Jews here over anti-Semitism." He also reiterated his criticism of Britain over the 1917 Balfour Declaration that led to the establishment of the State of Israel.
Palestinian officials told Israel Hayom that Abbas "decided to break with Washington's policy after a conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, who made it clear that Riyadh supports Trump's take on the Middle East peace process, by which any progress on the Palestinian issue will be made parallel to a regional agreement between the Arab states and Israel."
Hoping to secure what he has called the "ultimate" deal, the past year has seen Trump dispatch his Middle East team, led by Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt and Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, to the region to try to breathe life into moribund peace talks.
But the Jerusalem pivot threw a wrench into Trump's peacemaking attempts. Since then, the Palestinians have butted heads with the U.S. at the United Nations, winning a global rebuke against Trump's move. Trump has responded by threatening to cut aid and reduce U.S. payments to the U.N.'s Palestinian refugee agency, to which the U.S. is the largest donor.
Details of Abbas' outburst reached Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently on a state visit to India.
A senior official with Netanyahu's entourage said the speech was "that of a man who has nothing left to lose."
Abbas "is digging his own grave. He is systematically losing legitimacy around the world, and this happens every time he makes such radical statements. A growing number of international officials are sending Israel the message that they want nothing to do with him and that they understand he is the real peace rejectionist," the official said.
"As time goes by, Ramallah is losing the empathy lent to it by the international community. The Americans in particular are furious with him."
Israel's Foreign Ministry was expected to discuss Abbas' latest statements on Monday afternoon. It is believed that Israel will not take any operative steps over the Palestinian leader's rhetoric, but will choose to underscore them to the international community as remarks that support Israel's longtime assertion that Abbas is not a partner in peace.
