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Palestinian Official: We Did Not Run Away From Negotiations

by Associated Press

   RAMALLAH, WEST BANK --

   A senior Palestinian official has objected to President Donald Trump's
   assertion that the Palestinians have walked away from peace
   negotiations.

   Mohammed Ishtayeh, a top adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas, says the
   Trump administration has pushed the Palestinians away from any peace
   process by taking a series of steps in favor of Israel.
   "When ... President Trump says the Palestinians are running away from
   the negotiating table, which negotiating table?" Ishtayeh told foreign
   journalists. "Since he came to power, there have been no negotiations
   whatsoever."
   Ishtayeh criticized the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as
   Israel's capital and to move its embassy there in May, as well as U.S.
   cuts in funding to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.
   He called for U.S. "confidence-building steps" and an internationally
   sponsored peace process.