ZCZC
BFF-07
ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-CONFLICT-US-DIPLOMACY-PLO
Palestinians refuse to go silently as US closes mission
WASHINGTON, Oct 11, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Palestinian representatives on
Wednesday vowed not to stay silent as they closed their mission in Washington
on orders of President Donald Trump.
“This is an attempt to shut down your voice; this is an act of
censorship,” said Hakam Takash, a diplomat at the Palestine Liberation
Organization’s Washington office which had been set up in 1994 after the Oslo
peace accords.
“This is a new beginning, not just in Palestinian-American relations but
in the work of this community,” he told a ceremony as the office symbolically
took down a plaque on the Washington building.
“You’ll leave here all as ambassadors today and you will carry this
message forward and you will show the world that the Palestinian voice will
not be silenced.”
The Trump administration in September announced it was closing the
mission, accusing the Palestinians of refusing to negotiate peace with
Israel.
The step came as the United States under Trump allies itself ever more
closely with Israel, including taking the landmark step of moving the US
embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the holy city which the Palestinians also
want as their capital.
The PLO mission officially closed on September 13, the last day of
ambassador Hossam Zomlot, but the employees had another month to finish their
work.
“Regrettably, the current US administration has demonstrated in one
hostile action and policy after another that it prefers to dictate rather
than cooperate, coerce rather than negotiate,” the Palestinian foreign
ministry said in a statement read at the ceremony, reiterating its stance
that Washington cannot continue its role leading the peace process until it
shifts policy.
Under Trump, the United States has also terminated all aid to the UN
agency that supports Palestinian refugees, triggering a funding crisis for
schools and other services that benefit five million people.
James Zogby, a longtime advocate for the Palestinians as president of the
Arab American Institute, condemned the US action.
“What we’re here to say, quite simply, is — you can close the office, and
you can silence the voice, but the Palestinian people will not go away,” he
said.
“They remain. They remain on their land, they remain in their camps
waiting to return, and we here as a community remain as their voice, the
voice of the Palestinian people.”
BSS/AFP/RY/08:38 hrs