PA minister: Trump should be prosecuted for crimes against Palestinians
Palestinian Culture Minister Atef Abu Saif called on President Donald Trump and several prominent American politicians to be prosecuted for their crimes against the Palestinian people.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFDonald Trump and Jared Kushner (photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinian Culture Minister Atef Abu Saif called on President Donald Trump and several prominent American politicians to be prosecuted for their crimes against the Palestinian people, in an article published this week."An examination of Trump's conduct reveals his absurdity in many issues [and] raises a question about [his conduct's] legality, and it may be that we Palestinians... should prosecute him for it," Saif wrote in an article called "America and its Collusion in Crime," which was published in the Palestinian Al-Ayyam newspaper and was translated by Memri.The article accuses Trump, his advisors Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman of distorting history to suit their political agenda and completely ignoring historical fact."There is infinite ignorance with respect to the course of history and to the facts – ignorance which leads to overturning all the facts so as to disseminate the big lies of Zionism and its allies among the extremist, fanatical American Christians," he wrote. "Sometimes it goes as far as total identification with those positions, and even [reaches the point] where some of those in Washington seem more extreme than the colonialists who steal the land, uproot the olive trees, falsify history, and attempt to outmaneuver reality."Saif wrote that some in Washington are "more Zionist than the child killers in our country," and "more extreme than the colonialists who steal the land," writing that their justification for Israel's actions means they are implicit in the crime and should be prosecuted.Saif singled out Friedman, who he called "ambassador of the settlers," and Kushner and Greenblatt, who he called "the two most ignorant people in the American political echelons."Kushner and Greenblatt are behind the soon-to-be-released "Deal of the Century.""Friedman takes every opportunity to attack the Palestinian people and to harm its history and its circumstances, with declarations that are inappropriate for either a diplomat or a respectable citizen," he wrote. "Apparently, Mr. Friedman is unfamiliar with the existence of international law, and does not realize that he is an ambassador in a country that is breaking it. This is why he considers his deeds to be without defect or violation of the law, but as strengthening Israel's position as a state that is above the law."Saif was no kinder to Greenblatt and Kushner, saying that "the ignorance in the statements made by these two is unmeasurable, especially when they talk about history or take convoluted positions as they comment on the nonsense perpetrated by President Trump in the Middle East."The article, published just weeks before the Trump administration releases part of its proposed peace plan between Israelis and Palestinians, reflects the Palestinian attitude toward the deal. Palestinian leaders have rejected the deal even before release and are being pressured by Arab states to attend the Bahrain workshop where the economic part of the peace plan will be revealed.