RAMALLAH, December 4, 2017 (WAFA) – Deputy Premier Ziad Abu Amr on Monday told US Consul General in Jerusalem Donald Blome during a meeting in Ramallah that moving the US embassy to Jerusalem or US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel are unacceptable and involve risks no one can tell their consequences.

Abu Amr stressed in the meeting Palestinian rejection of any action or decision taken by the US administration that would affect the status quo in the holy city.

He said such an action "is offensive and contrary to the role of the US administration as a mediator and sponsor of the peace process, disqualifies it from playing this role, closes every door to the continuation of a serious peace process, and pushes the entire region into more tension and instability."

He said that any step to move the embassy or to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel "will be faced by widespread protests in the Palestinian territories and other parts of the Islamic world because Jerusalem is not only the capital of the State of Palestine but also because it has an Arab and Islamic significance."

Abu Amr told the US Consul General that if his administration acts to move the embassy to Jerusalem or recognize it as the capital of Israel, “it will free the Palestinian leadership from any previous understandings it had with the US administration.”

Abu Amr held the American administration responsible for the “serious consequences” that would result from its acts on Jerusalem, urging it to reconsider its position "to preserve what is left of opportunities to achieve peace and not to take any step that would threaten these opportunities."

M.K.