PA prime minister reveals contacts with Biden administration, expects removal of US sanctions

“In an interview that was broadcast yesterday evening [March 16, 2021] on the [Fatah-run] satellite [TV] channel Awdah…

[PA] Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh… said…regarding the renewal of Palestinian-American contacts, that he and a number of senior Palestinian officials, including Head of Civil Affairs [in the PA and Fatah Central Committee member] Minister Hussein Al-Sheikh, held contacts with the new American administration led by [US President] Joe Biden. The prime minister emphasized that these contacts ‘are based on one thing: We want the American administration to uphold its commitments to reopen the American consulate in East Jerusalem, to reopen the PLO office in Washington, and to renew the aid, including to UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) and to the hospitals in Jerusalem.’ He added: ‘We want bilateral relations with the US, and not [relations] based on the connection with Israel.’

Shtayyeh said that the Palestinian leadership expects an American order that will consider the PLO as a prime partner in the peace process, which means the revocation of all the hostile laws including a law that considers the PLO to be a ‘terror organization.’”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 17, 2021]