Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's office says Jerusalem is "not for sale" after US President Donald Trump threatened to cut annual aid of more than $300 million to force them to the negotiating table, reported the Associated Press.
Abbas released the statement after US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) does not show the United States appreciation or respect, hinting that it does not deserve the large amounts of aid it received from the U.S. annually.
“It's not only Pakistan that we pay billions of dollars to for nothing, but also many other countries, and others. As an example, we pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don’t even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with Israel,” he tweeted.
“We have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table, but Israel, for that, would have had to pay more. But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?” added Trump.