NEW YORK: Palestine Liberation Organisation’s (PLO) Secretary General Saeb Erekat asked the US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley to “shut up” for her criticism of a recent speech of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

In his speech, Mr Abbas called Israel a “colonial project that has nothing to do with Jews” and attacked US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, The Times of Israel newspaper reported.

Mr Erekat said Haley had “called for overthrowing the democratically elected Palestinian president”.

“This is the president who led the peace process and promoted the principle of the two-state solution,” he said in an interview with Palestinian news website Al-Watan Voice, and The Times of Israel. “Now this [US] ambassador is accusing him of lacking courage.”

His remarks referred to a speech Ms Haley gave to the UN in January, in which she said: “In his speech, Presi­dent Abbas declared the land­mark Oslo Peace Acco­rds dead. He rejected any American role in peace talks.

Citing the speech, Mr Erekat said: “Nikki Haley needs to shut up and realise that the Palestinian leadership is not the problem. Instead, the problem is the Israeli occupation and the policies it continues to pursue.”

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2018