Palestinians commemorated today ‘Nakba Day’, which is translated from Arabic as ‘the day of catastrophe’, referring to Israel’s declaration of independence that was proclaimed a day earlier, on the 14th of May, 1948. As part of their protest, a general strike was announced by the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and across the Arab communities of Israel. On the backdrop of the United States’ inauguration of its Embassy in Jerusalem, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the American move as an effort to dictate a new reality on the ground, while terming the new U.S. Embassy as an ‘outpost settlement’ that was established on lands the Palestinians demand for their future state. “We hear that they opened an embassy (eds note: refers to US embassy) which is an outpost settlement and not an embassy. An American outpost settlement. At first we had outpost settlements with the help of America and now we have an American outpost settlement in East Jerusalem,” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said.
The Palestinian leader further dubbed the United States as part of the problem, rather than part of a solution to the decades old conflict, rejecting an assertion by President Donald Trump, who declared during the inauguration of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, ‘the ongoing commitment of the United States to facilitate a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.’ “As I said in December, our greatest hope is for peace. The United States remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement and we continue to support the status quo at Jerusalem’s holy sites including at the Temple Mount also known as Haram al-Sharif,” US President Donald Trump said.