The participation of Jerusalem Arabs in the upcoming Palestinian elections means that former US president Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is null and void, a senior Palestinian official said Monday.
The Palestinians have received assurances from the European Union and other international parties that the Arab residents of Jerusalem, who hold Israeli-issued ID cards, will be allowed to vote and run in the parliamentary and presidential elections slated for May 22 and July 31, respectively, the official told The Jerusalem Post.
On December 6, 2017, Trump announced the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and ordered the relocation of the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The Palestinians condemned the announcement, saying it destroys the peace process and disqualifies the US from peace talks with Israel.
“The Israeli government apparently does not want to announce its decision to allow the Palestinians in Jerusalem to participate in the Palestinian elections for political reasons,” the official told the Post. “We understand that [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu does not want to make such an announcement on the eve of the elections in Israel.”
The Palestinians welcome the purported decision to allow the Arabs in Jerusalem to participate in the Palestinian elections, the official said, adding: “The participation of the Palestinians in Jerusalem in our elections actually revokes Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and affirms that east Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the State of Palestine.”
On Sunday, a senior Israeli official told the Post the government had not made a decision regarding the participation of Jerusalem Arabs in the Palestinian elections.
The majority of the Arabs in Jerusalem are not Israeli citizens and hold Israeli-issued ID cards in their capacity as permanent residents of Israel.
Two other senior Palestinian officials, Mutasem Tayem and Nabil Sha’ath, on Sunday said Jerusalem Arabs would cast their ballots in Israeli post offices in east Jerusalem neighborhoods located within the boundaries of the Jerusalem Municipality.
Jerusalem Arabs would also be allowed to present their candidacy in the Palestinian Authority’s parliamentary and presidential elections, they said.
“Jerusalem is an occupied city and the capital of the future Palestinian state,” PA presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh said. He was responding to Kosovo’s decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem. The move was in violation of international resolutions and would have “repercussions in the near future,” he said.
The PA was in contact with the new US administration, which supports the two-state solution and opposes Israeli unilateral steps, Abu Rudaineh said.
“Israel knows that real peace requires the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with east Jerusalem as its capital,” he said. “There will be no settlements within the borders of the Palestinian state.”