PA threatens to withdraw recognition of Israel

Senior official threatens to withdraw Palestinian Authority's recognition of Israel if US embassy is moved to Jerusalem.

A senior member of President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah
 party has threatened to withdraw the Palestinian Authority's
recognition of Israel in response to the planned relocation
 of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

During his electoral campaign, US President Donald Trump
pledged to move the embassy to Jerusalem despite
reluctance to do so by past administrations.

Speaking to the Voice of Palestine radio station on Tuesday,
Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of Fatah's Central Committee,
said the Palestinian Authority, or PA, planned to adopt a raft
of retaliatory measures in the event of the embassy's  relocating. 


"One of these steps would be to withdraw recognition
 of the Israeli state," said Ahmad.

"[We would also] demand that Israel recognise Palestine 
as a state with Jerusalem as its capital."

The Fatah official went on to assert that Palestinians
 would "escalate their peaceful popular resistance" in
 response to any embassy move.

Earlier in the day, Osama Hamdan, the spokesman for
Hamas, a group that governs the Gaza Strip, told AP
that Trump should not add "oil to the fire" by moving the
embassy to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem remains at the core of long-standing disputes
between Israel and the Palestinians, who want East
 Jerusalem - occupied by Israel for 50 years - as the 
capital of a future state.

Although Israel has claimed the city as its "eternal 
capital" since occupying East Jerusalem in 1967, the International community has never recognised the assertion.

Until now, most foreign diplomatic missions remain based
 in Tel Aviv.

On Monday, the White House announced that "no
 decisions" had been made on the planned move,
 saying talks on the issue were still in the "very early stages".

Earlier this month, Republican politicians in the US
 introduce legislation, which is still winding its way
 through the Senate, to relocate the embassy and 
recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.