"The U.S. can no longer mediate between Israel and the Palestinians," Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas remarked Friday, adding that "now we need a different mediator, from Europe, alongside the Quartet [of Middle East peace negotiators] and Arab states."
In a condolence call with Israeli lawmaker Zehava Galon, on the occasion of her father's death, Abbas went on to say that when U.S. President Donald Trump took office about a year ago, he had promised the Palestinians a "good deal" that would end the decadeslong conflict. "In several conversations, he promised to resolve the conflict, and then came the terrible surprise, one that we cannot accept," Abbas said to Galon, referring to the Trump's Dec. 6 declaration recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
The Palestinians view Trump's announcement as proof of American bias in favor of Israel, as they envision east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Addressing the fact that the peace talks have been frozen for years, Abbas went on to say that "we are ready for negotiations and we never wanted to leave the talks, but unfortunately, no one is offering us to engage in talks, especially not the Americans," whom he said "now seek to punish us."
"The Oslo Accords are dead," he said. "And even though Israel has not lived up to its obligations, we haven't ended our security cooperation. We are waiting to see whether diplomatic negotiations can be conducted with impartial negotiators."
Galon, who heads the left-wing party Meretz, responded by telling Abbas that "the American and Israeli Right are steering us toward a violent and disastrous reality, which will lead to a complete crisis of trust between the Israelis and the Palestinians."
Nevertheless, Galon said, "The two-state solution is the only possible solution."
She also decried what she called a lack of "courageous Israeli leadership."
Abbas' comments followed Trump's meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday. In a press conference ahead of their meeting, Trump made clear that he stands behind his official recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and that from his standpoint, the issue was off the table.
Following the press conference, Abbas said that "if Jerusalem has been taken off the table, then American mediation has also been taken off the table."
