US State Dept Engaging in Conversation With Palestinian Government

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said during a press briefing on Tuesday that the US has been in constant contact with the Palestinian government since Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

“As of a couple of days ago, I know that we have had contact with the Palestinian government, I know that we’ve been in conversations,” Nauert said when asked if the two sides were communicating about the decision.

On December 6, Trump announced his decision to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and ordered the State Department to relocate the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city. The move was hailed by Israel but condemned by the rest of the international community as one which undermined Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

The decision has prompted an especially fierce backlash from Muslim countries, with protests and clashes erupting in Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Morocco, among other countries.

Six days after Trump announced the controversial decision, Hamas announced the beginning of the third "intifada". According to the Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization, which governs the Gaza Strip, it expects the "day of rage" protests against the US move, which claimed two lives and left over 1,000 injured on Friday, to continue.

"When the United States took the decision [to recognize Jerusalem as Israeli capital], it opened the way to the anger in the Arab world, Muslim world in general, and in Palestine. They are responsible for what is happening. The Palestinian people have the right, because we are talking about Jerusalem. And this is not just a simple city, it is the capital of Palestine. And such response follows this decision," Hamas spokesman Abdul-Latif Qanou told Sputnik, commenting on rocket shelling of Israel from Palestinian territories, adding that it was the right of Palestinians for self-defense.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Tuesday have registered the launch of yet another rocket from the Gaza Strip toward southern part of Israel, according to the IDF spokesperson.  

​The incident follows a series of attacks between the IDF and the Palestinian militants on Monday. The IDF said Monday that the Palestinian militants launched two rockets from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. In response, the IDF attacked the military posts of the Hamas movement in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

The United States remains optimistic in its efforts to facilitate the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Nauert said.

Israel seized Jerusalem from Jordan during the Six-Day War in 1967. The international community does not recognize the annexation of East Jerusalem, a holy site for three religions, and believes its status should be determined through an agreement with the Palestinians, who also want the holy city as their capital.