Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas spoke by phone with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken overnight Wednesday to discuss recent events at the Temple Mount, according to the Palestinian WAFA news agency.
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Abbas is weighing various means to pressure Israel, the US, and international figures to renew peace talks, according to a report by the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
According to the newspaper's sources, Abbas has become convinced these steps are necessary right now to salvage the diplomatic process. They said the move followed the escalation in Israeli attacks on Palestinians and the US's failure to implement its promises to the Palestinians, including opening a consulate in east Jerusalem.
According to the report, Abbas informed the US, Egypt, and Jordan that he would respond by implementing a decision reached by the Fatah Central Committee to rescind Palestinian recognition of Israel. It further reported that the decision was reached following the failure of Jordan and Egypt to convince the White House to adopt a plan to renew peace talks.
In his conversation with Blinken, Abbas claimed "Jewish radicals were allowed to pray at the Al-Aqsa compound and wave Israeli flags in violation of the status quo."
He said Israel was continuing to make unilateral decisions, in particular pertaining to Jerusalem, and that "Israeli forces are storming Al-Aqsa Mosque every day, the ongoing killing of children and their deportation and the demolition of homes in the Palestinian neighborhoods, in addition to the settler crimes and terrorism they use against our Palestinian people."
He said the Palestinian leadership was posed to adopt positions against the Israeli escalations. "Israel is carrying out ethnic cleansing and war crimes in the shadow of the American silence," Abbas said.
Abbas demanded the Palestine Liberation Organization be removed from the terror blacklist, the opening of a Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem, as well as the reopening of the Palestinian mission in Washington.
Blinken, for his part, reiterated US support for the two-state solution and the status quo in Jerusalem and condemned settlement expansion. He said Washington was committed to opening the Palestinian consulate and that a high-ranking delegation would arrive in the region ahead of US President Joe Biden's upcoming visit to the region to discuss the issues raised by Abbas.
Blinken also said the US would investigate the killing of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh.
The UN recently announced it would name a program to train young Palestinian journalists in her honor.
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