Abbas said that Jerusalem is the Palestinian capital its history and size dictate that its identity will not change by a US decision.

:: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday that Jerusalem was the “eternal capital of the State of Palestine”

In a televised address in response to the US announcement President Abbas said that the Palestinian issue has now entered a critical stage after Trump‘s announcement,

Abbas said that US President Donald Trump’s announcement to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the embassy there is a declaration of Washington‘s withdrawal from the peace process.

He added that over the next few days all Palestinian sides will be called to discuss and follow these developments.

“We urge brethren countries to take the right steps in this issue,” Abbas said.

“Jerusalem is the Palestinian capital its history and size dictate that its identity will not change by a US decision,” he said.

International reactions

Jordan rejected the decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel saying it was “legally null” because it consolidated Israel’s occupation of the eastern sector of the contested city in the 1967 war.

The announcement by President Trump violated past U.N. Security Council resolutions that “stipulated the non recognition of the Israeli occupation” of the West Bank and the eastern sector of the city, government spokesperson Mohammad al-Momani told state news agency Petra.

The kingdom also considered “all unilateral moves that sought to create new facts on the ground as null and void”, the government spokesman added.

The European Union said in a statement that it expresses serious concern about announcement by Trump on Jerusalem and the repercussions this may have on the prospect of peace.

In a statement UK Prime Minister Theresa May said that the UK ‘disagrees’ with the US decision on Jerusalem, describing it as ‘unhelpful’.

“We disagree with the US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem and recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital,” she said in a statement. “We believe it is unhelpful in terms of prospects for peace in the region”.

Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun said on Wednesday that Trump’s Jerusalem decision was dangerous and threatened the credibility of the United States as a broker of the peace process in the region.

The decision has put back the peace process by decades, and threatens regional stability and perhaps global stability, Aoun said in a statement.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has also expressed Egypt’s rejection of the move and of “any implications resulting from it,” in a statement issued.

Tunisia’s foreign ministry also warned that Trump’s move “seriously threatens to undermine the foundations of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.”

Meanwhile Mexico’s foreign ministry said that it will keep its Israeli embassy in Tel Aviv, following the US decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem.

Mexico will continue to adhere to United Nations resolutions recognizing the status of Jerusalem and continue supporting the historical claims of the Palestinian people, the foreign ministry said in a statement.