The senior Palestinian diplomat in the U.K., Ambassador Husam Zomlot, told CBS News on Tuesday that President Trump must live up to his vow to bring peace to the Middle East.
“We hope the U.S. will join this international momentum, and will be part of this real international quest, for an end to the genocide,” Zomlot told CBS News at the Palestinian mission in London. “Whether the president or the Trump administration or any administration, the long-standing U.S. policy is a two-state solution on the 1967 borders. If not now, when? If not during the middle of a genocide, the middle of the most atrocious attack against the Palestinian people…when? The U.S. must be part of the solution, not part of the problem.”
Just last week — and for the sixth time since Hamas-led terrorists attacked Israel nearly two years ago, sparking the ongoing war — the U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, criticizing it for not going further in condemning Hamas. Over decades of support for Israel, Washington has vetoed dozens of U.N. resolutions linked to Palestinian sovereignty or statehood.
“It doesn’t help,” said Zomlot. “It’s very counterproductive and it plays into the hands of (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu, (Finance Minister Bezalel) Smotrich, (National Security Minister) Itamar Ben-Gvir and the fanatics in the Israeli government.”
“I’ve had the opportunity to meet President Trump several times,” he told CBS News, “and he always, always repeated that he is a man of peace. He wants to be the one who makes peace. He wants to be the one to finally, finally reach a peace agreement in Palestine.”
“I want him to stick to that promise,” the envoy said. “I think doing that requires an immediate, immediate intervention to stop the genocide. It’s under his watch.”
The Israeli government has rejected accusations, including from an expert panel commissioned by the United Nations, that its military operations in Gaza amount to genocide against the Palestinians, dismissing the claims as lies based on Hamas propaganda. It says the Israel has no intent to commit genocide and complies with international law.