Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas recalled the Palestinian envoy in Washington on Tuesday, chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Palestinian television.
He said Husam Zomlot, the Palestine Liberation Organization's chief representative in Washington, was already on his way home.
Palestinian Foreign Ministry statement carried by the official Wafa news agency said the decision follows the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Monday. The move fulfilled U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition last December of the holy city as Israel's capital and his pledge to move the embassy. The decisions outraged the Palestinians, who said the United States could no longer serve as an honest broker in any peace process.
Erekat said Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki signed papers on Tuesday to refer Israel to the International Criminal Court for "war crimes" over its military actions during the mass riots on the Israel-Gaza border, in which at least 58 Palestinians have been killed and 2,700 wounded. The IDF says at least 24 of those killed were known Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.
Malki "signed the official referral to the International Criminal Court, calling on [its] Judicial Council and on Prosecutor General Fatou Bensouda to open a judicial investigation against Israeli officials on war crimes committed against our people," Erekat told Palestinian television.
