President Donald Trump's decision last month to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel defied several decades of Arab demands that East Jerusalem be the capital of a Palestinian state, the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch website reports today (January 8, 2018).
But the New York Times has obtained telephone recordings to several influential talk shows in Egypt by Capt. Ashsraf al-Kholi, an intelligence officer, attempting to convince listeners to accept Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
"Strife with Israel was not in Egypt's national interest," al-Kholi emphasized. Palestinians, he suggested, should accept the West Bank PA (Palestinian Authority) home town of Ramallah as their capital.
Also, days before Trump's expected announcement on Jerusalem, Saudi Arabia had quietly signaled its agreement of Jerusalem being the Israeli capital. At that time, the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohamed bin Salman, privately urged PA President Mahmoud Abbas to accept Palestinian statehood without a capital of East Jerusalem, according to several Arab leaders who heard Abbas's version of events.
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