21 Oct 2021; MEMO: The United States has been trying to drag more Arab and Muslim states to normalise ties with the occupation state of Israel, Palestinian Authority (PA) Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki said yesterday.
Speaking to Voice of Palestine radio, Al-Maliki said: "US Department of State has been working with Arab and Muslim states to normalise ties with Israel as a price for the Israeli government's opposition to the reopening of the US consulate in occupied Jerusalem."
He said that the US administration had sent messages that it insists on reopening the consulate in Jerusalem.
"However, it seems that there is a kind of concession that the US administration has become ready to pay for reopening the consulate," he said.
"The Israeli government is clearly blackmailing the US administration in this regard, and the US is responding to this extortion or ready to pay the price," he reiterated.
Al-Maliki said that Israel is dealing with the reopening of the consulate as "an issue of life or death," and is exerting much effort to make the US change its mind.
It is unclear which countries Al-Maliki believes are being encouraged to normalise ties with the occupation state.
The US under former President Donald Trump relocated its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018 and closed the consulate in East Jerusalem the following year.
