The US Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday was forced to postpone a conference that it organized in Ramallah after Palestinian officials and factions called for a boycott and threatened to organize protests.
The Palestinians cut ties with the US after it recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in 2017.
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The embassy had organized a conference this week to bring together alumni of US educational and cultural programs, including dozens of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip who received permission from Israel to attend.
The Palestinian leadership viewed the conference as an attempt to circumvent its boycott of the US administration.
"We are aware of recent statements regarding a planned event for alumni of US educational and cultural programs," the US Embassy said. "In order to avoid the Palestinian participants being put in a difficult situation, we have decided to postpone the event for now."
It said this and other events "are designed to create opportunities for exchange and dialogue between Americans and Palestinians at the grassroots level."
"This event, in particular, is intended to give alumni of all ages and backgrounds from Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza an opportunity to network with each other and to engage in leadership and capacity building activities," it said.
Representatives of several Palestinian factions held a press conference Monday at the hotel where the meeting was to have taken place.
Spokesman Isam Baker told The Associated Press that the Palestine Liberation Organization had reached out to the hotel management and the invitees asking them to boycott the meeting.
"Most of the invitees and the hotel administration agreed with us that the invitation has political implications and it is not innocent," he said.
A statement released Sunday by the "national and Islamic forces of the Ramallah governorate" said they were determined to thwart the conference, calling it an attempt to "break the will of the Palestinian people." It said they planned to organize a "mass popular event to prevent this activity by all available means," calling for a sit-in and marches.
The youth wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party also called for a boycott. It vowed to "exercise all forms of legal and popular pressure to express rejection of this conference being held on occupied Palestinian land." It also called for an "apology" from the hotel.
