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A member of Fatah's central committee : We are relying on Moroccans, those who came with Saladin to retake Jerusalem [Interview]

The U.S. President, Donald Trump, has broken up with the political approach adopted by his peredecessors and recognized Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel, sparking a wave of anger in several countries. Many marches took place in different parts of the world dennouncing Trump's decision including Morocco. To take a look at how Palestinians reacted to the U.S. unpredictable announcment,Yabiladi interviewed Abbas Zaki, the former representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon and a member of Fatah's central committee.

Abbas Zaki, the former representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon and a member of Fatah's central committee./Ph. DR
Estimated read time: 2'

As a member of the Fatah's central committe, don't you think that it is time to review the Oslo Accords ?

For the moment, everything is on the table, Oslo has eneded and so our relations with the United States.

The agreement is no longer there, Israeli estremism left no room for accords and the United States of America has decided to side with terrorism, referring to the Israeli occupation. Trump backed the Israeli terrorism at the expense of the Palestinians.

How do you see the reaction of Arab countries to Trump's decision ?

We are relying on the people, because we believe that Trump wouldn't have considered this decision if he knew that Arab leaders would stop him. If he knew that American ambassadors would be expelled from Arab countries he wouldn't have dared announcing relocating the American embassy in Israel.

If he knew that Arab leaders such as King Faisal (King of Saudi Arabia) would stop oil supplies for what he did, he would not have delivered that speech on Wednesday. However, the U.S President knows that most of the Arab regimes are submissive to his decisions.

Morocco summoned the American Chargé d'Affaires and the same thing was done in Tunisia, but unfortunately the rest of the Arab regimes are not as interested in our struggle as two North African countries.

How do you describe the situation in Palestine following Trump's decision ?

People here are angered. But I must admit that Palestinans are great in the sense that : If hope is lost, miracles are done. So far 1,300 young Palestinians were injured. We are engaged in an uprising which will work on stopping the American decision, which is similar to the Balfour Declaration issued a hundred years ago.

We heard that some parts in Palestine call for disestablishing the Palestinian National Authority and ending the peace process as a response to the decision of the U.S administration ...

We are not disestablishing the Palestinian National Authority, the interim self-government body established in 1994 must fight and fullfil the demands of the Palestinian people.

Do you think the situation would lead to another Intifada ?

Yes, we are going to have heated confrontations and we are expecting a second Intifada.

What about the unity of the Palestinians ?

After Trump's decision, I am calling the Palestinians to focus on their first and common concern which is Jerusalem. Creating a united front is definitly going to protect us from being in danger.

What is your message to the Moroccan people ?

The Kingdom of Morocco has always showed support and love for the Palestinans and we are relying on that love and support. At the same time, we see that Morocco and Palestine share alot, namely a neighborhood that stands there to remind us of how Moroccans came to retake Al-Quds from the Crusaders alongside Salahdin.

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