RAMALLAH, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki Sunday said that the Palestinian leadership will soon take surprising steps to counter the U.S. administration's decision against Palestinians.
Malki said in a statement to the official Palestinian radio station (Voice of Palestine) that "the Palestinian side will take steps which may surprise many based on international law in order to confront the U.S. administration."
He slammed the United States for dropping the term "occupied territories" and replacing it with "West Bank and Gaza Strip," as it reveals "total bias towards Israel and its settlement enterprise."
He stressed that measures by the United States "would not change the legal reality of the occupied Palestinian territories under international law," and "it has undermined Washington's own credibility, and that of any of its reports that would no longer be referential to anybody."
"The Palestinian side will not give up to such measures and we will report to the UN to continue to isolate the United States wherever it is possible, including the UN General Assembly and international organizations," said Malki.
The U.S. State Department annual human rights report issued Friday dropped the term "occupied territories" to describe Israel's presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from its title.
He also confirmed that Palestinians have requested a meeting of the six-party Arab league ministerial committee that was formed against the backdrop of the U.S. President Donald Trump's move on Jerusalem, in order to share the responsibility of the consequences of the U.S. decision.
"It may be difficult for some Arab countries to commit to the 1980 Amman summit resolution to sever ties with any state that decides to move its embassy to Jerusalem due to strategic and security ties with Washington," said the foreign minister.
"The Palestinian side moves restlessly to prevent this move," he added.
Ties of Palestine and the United States have witnessing rising tensions since last October, especially when Trump recognized Jerusalem as a capital of Israel and ordered the moving of the U.S. embassy to the city on Dec. 6, 2017.
On Feb. 20, Palestinian President Abbas presented a peace initiative in a speech before the UN Security Council, proposing to hold an international peace conference mid-2018 for final status negotiation based on solution of the two sides and international legitimate resolutions.
