US VP Pence not welcome
A senior Palestinian official said Thursday that US Vice President Mike Pence was "not welcome in Palestine" during his upcoming regional visit after a White House decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
"The American vice president is not welcome in Palestine," Jibril Rajoub, a senior member of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah, told AFP.
Rajoub also signalled that Abbas would not meet with Pence during his planned visit later this month. "And President Abbas will not welcome him because of the statements he made" about Jerusalem.
Pence is travel to Egypt and Israel in the second half of December, a visit that has taken on extra significance in the wake of President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Jerusalem is home to sites holy to Muslims, Jews and Christians.
Al-Azhar's Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb also cancelled a meeting with Mike Pence.
In a statement, Al-Azhar, Egypt's highest Sunni institution, said Tayeb had reversed his previous decision to meet Pence, who is due to travel to Egypt and Israel in the second half of December.
Meanwhile, The White House warned that cancelling a planned meeting between Abbas and Pence in the wake of the US policy shift on Jerusalem would be "counterproductive."
A White House aide said Pence "still plans to meet with Abbas as scheduled" and "believes it would be counterproductive for him to pull out of the meeting."
Trump's move to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel sparked Palestinian protests, sporadic clashes and a call for a new intifada as fears grew of fresh bloodshed in the region.
Some Palestinian leaders have indicated that they no longer consider the United States an honest broker in the peace process.
Breaking off ties with Washington in such a public way would be risky, but the 82-year-old Palestinian leader could be under fierce domestic pressure to make the snub.
Washington's major Western and Arab allies have warned that Trump's decision on Jerusalem could doom attempts to achieve what the US president has called the “ultimate deal” of Israeli-Palestinian peace, reported Reuters.
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