A US official said US President Bush signed on September 30, a law compelling the US Administration to define Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, thus risking to stir the anger of the Arab and Islamic world. A senior official said the White House will issue later a statement in which it will state that the law reflects the feelings of the Congress and is not binding to the US policy. The law also demands from the Bush Administration to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv city to Jerusalem and ratify the naming of the city of Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel in each document issued by the US Administration. The spokesperson for the State Department said last night that US Secretary of State Colin Powell believes that the final status of the city of Jerusalem must be decided through negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. He added that these decisions impede pushing the US interests in the Middle East and the exerted efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace in the region.

Meanwhile, the US Administration ignored directions from the Congress on October 2nd on changing ways of dealing with the city of Jerusalem and said that the directions are nothing more than non-binding recommendations. The spokesperson to the US State Department said the US Consulate in Jerusalem still answers directly to Washington and not to the US Ambassador in Israel.

On the Palestinian side, the Palestinian Leadership condemned in a meeting it held on October 2, the decision of the US Congress which considers Jerusalem as an eternal capital of Israel. The leadership considered the step as a blow to the peace process and international legitimacy and the international law. The leadership also condemned the recent Israeli aggression on the Palestinian lands and the Presidential Headquarters, considering this aggression as aiming to destroy the peace process and cancel the terms of reference of the process and trying to force the peace of surrendering. The leadership also saluted the support of the masses all over the Palestinian homeland to the leadership and their heroic standpoint despite all forms of siege and curfew in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The leadership said that the Palestinian people gave an example of a people with dignity and determination and will to continue to defend their national rights and who said to the whole world that they will not surrender and will never raise the white flag. The Palestinian Leadership reviewed the decision of the US Congress on the Jerusalem issue; the leadership believes that the decision is a threat to the Palestinian people and the Arab nation and Christians and Moslems in the world and a threat to the non-aligned countries, China, and Japan and to all free people in the world. In addition, the leadership said this step violates the US constitution and the commitments of the US regarding its guarantees to Palestinians and Arabs and the UN before Madrid Conference and through its signing the agreements that resulted from the Oslo Accords. The leadership said: We wonder how can US legislators decide the destiny of a people in the holiest cities in support to the illegitimate occupation and in defiance to all feelings, beliefs and rights. The Palestinian leadership demands from the US Administration to stop this non-binding decision and reaffirm its commitments pertaining to the UN Security Council Resolutions on ending occupation and on the illegality of annexing Jerusalem and all agreements signed with Israel which were conducted with US sponsoring and guarantees. The leadership said that this should be the correct US position that maintains the honest mediation role of the US in the peace process and opens the door for real return to a political process that achieves a just and permanent peace in the Middle East region and in the Holy Lands. Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Nabil Shaath said the leadership would head to the UN Security Council and to the Jerusalem Committee and the Arab Follow Up Committee to retaliate to the decision. Shaath demanded from Bush to use his constitutional jurisdiction in a clear and public declaration to explain that this decision will not have any impact on the status of the occupied Holy City and the Palestinian national right init, considering that the attempts of the US State Department to reduce the importance of this step as not adequate. He said the Palestinian diplomacy would be activated at the Arab and international levels and in the US arena. Shaath announced that he would start an Arab and European tour tomorrow while Mahmoud Abbas, PLO Executive Committee Secretary, is on a visit to Moscow. During a press conference at Palestine Media Center in Ramallah, Shaath affirmed that the PNA is determined to proceed in the reform process until reaching a real democratic system that meets the needs and interests of the Palestinian people. Shaath expected that President Arafat would request a period of two new weeks to form the new government. He said that President Arafat has not requested yet a new period from the PLC and that this issue will be posed in the Palestinian cabinet meeting. On the issue of the trial of Marwan Barghouthi, Shaath said the trial in itself is an act of aggression since he was abducted from Palestinian soil and that Marwan is an elected PLC member. Shaath stressed that president Arafat intends to remain in his destroyed headquarters despite the hard conditions, denying the reports that talked about the possibility of his moving to Bethlehem. Dr. Erekat affirmed that the destiny of Jerusalem could not be decided by a Congress which is subject to Zionist lobby extortion. Meanwhile, Dr. Khatib, Minister of Labor, said the first meeting of the Cabinet after the end of the siege tackled the means to confront the US measure which is considered as complicity in Judaization of Jerusalem.

Published in Al-Quds and Al Hayat al-Jadida newspaper - Oct. 2, 2002.