Goodbye Oslo? Dahlan, Abbas, Hamas react to Trump's Jerusalem move

Palestinians should reject any future peace talks with Israel and halt all security coordination said Palestinian politician Mohammed Dahlan on Wednesday following the American president’s announcement Jerusalem is Israeli.

President Donald Trump announced earlier on Wednesday his recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and plans to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The move has been widely condemned in the Arab world and internationally.

"I call for withdrawal from the absurd and endless negotiations with Israel after the principle of inviolability of the status of Jerusalem has been breached," said Dahlan, an elected member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party central committee.

He added, "I call for ending all forms of coordination, especially security coordination, with Israel and USA."

Palestinian reactions

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said the United States can no longer play the role of peace broker after Donald Trump's decision on Wednesday to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

"These deplorable and unacceptable measures deliberately undermine all peace efforts," Abbas said in a speech after Trump's announcement.

He said Trump's move amounted to "an announcement of US withdrawal from playing the role it has been playing in the past decade in sponsoring the peace process."

Abbas has called for an emergency meeting of the PLO that will include all factions outside the body, possibly including Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Some Palestinians factions have called for withdrawal from Oslo, expulsion of American ambassador in Ramallah and closing the Palestinian mission in Washington.

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The secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation Saeb Erekat said Trump’s decision has "destroyed the two-state solution", adding that Trump had "disqualified his country from any role whatsoever" in the peace process.

"As a chief Palestinian negotiator, how can I sit with these people if they dictate on me the future of Jerusalem as Israel's capital," he added.

Erekat warned that "it is really throwing the whole region into chaos, international chaos."

Hamas, the Islamist party dominating the Gaza Strip, said that the US president’s move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would "open the gates of hell".

"This decision will open the gates of hell on US interests in the region," Ismail Radwan, a Hamas official told journalists after Trump's announcement.

He called on Arab and Islamic states to "cut off economic and political ties with the US embassy and expel American ambassadors to cripple" this decision.

Anger in the streets

Protests have broken out across Palestine in response to Trump’s decision. Hundreds have taken to the streets in Gaza, under siege since 2007, to protest angrily against the US decision.

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The protests, called for by different Palestinian political factions, are taking place across the country.

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Christmas trees in Bethleham and Ramallah have reportedly had their lights switched off in protest too.

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Palestinian Christian and Muslim leaders alike have criticised the move.

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Israel regards Jerusalem as its capital, a position nearly the entire world rejects saying its status should be determined in peace talks with the Palestinians.