A member of the Executive Committee of the PLO, Hanan Ashrawi, said on Sunday that the US administration is a partner to Israel in its "crimes" in Jerusalem.
This came in response to the intention of US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman to attend the inauguration of an Israeli tunnel under Palestinian homes in the town of Silwan, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
"The participation of Greenblatt and Friedman in opening the network is a real blessing for the Israeli steps in the city, and there before they bear the legal, political and moral responsibility," Hanan Ashrawi told Voice of Palestine radio.
She added that "the participation comes after the escalation of my words against the Palestinians, especially since the Bahrain workshop, which has become clear a lot of American intentions and future plans that you want to take the direction of the Palestinian territories."
Ashrawi accused Israel of "targeting the town of Silwan for some time to empty it of its Jerusalemites and seize their land, build parks and build a network of tunnels."
Israeli media reported on Saturday that Greenblatt and Friedman would be a guest of honor in the inauguration of the street, which will be held today, "The Path of the Pilgrims in the City of David," from the pool of Silwan to the "Wailing Wall" at the Temple Mount.
According to the Israeli radio, Friedman´s arrival "will be a kind of recognition by Washington, the sovereignty of Israel in East Jerusalem and not only in West Jerusalem."
For his part, Secretary of the Revolutionary Council of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) Majed al-Fatiani, said that "the Israeli government wants to prove its alleged and false story regarding Jerusalem with arrogance and excessive American support."
"The participation of US officials comes as a departure from all the rules of international law and international legitimacy," al-Fatayani said in a press statement.
"Connecting the tunnel to the huge tunnel network passing through the blessed mosque reflects despair and the unavailability of the Israeli government to search for any evidence that confirms its false and disputed narrative on which these policies are based," he said.
The Palestinian Authority has boycotted the US administration in terms of political contacts since President Donald Trump announced on December 6, 2017 recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the transfer of the embassy to it on 14 May 2018.
The Palestinians want to declare the eastern part of Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, while Israel insists that unified Jerusalem be its capital, although it occupied the eastern part of the holy city in 1967 and the international community did not recognize it.
