PA Blames Trump Peace Plan for Spate of Terror Attacks against Israelis

A day after three terrorist attacks were perpetrated against Israelis, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas blamed the violence on US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan. The so-called deal of the century has “created this atmosphere of escalation and tension by trying to impose fake facts on the ground, which we have repeatedly warned against,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement quoted by official Palestinian media. Early Thursday morning, 12 Israeli soldiers were injured in a car-ramming attack in a popular Jerusalem entertainment district. Hours later a gunman opened fire on Israeli security forces in the Old City, and shortly thereafter an Israeli soldier was wounded in a shooting near the Dolev Jewish community in the West Bank. For its part, Hamas praised the attacks, saying in a statement that “the revolution raging… is the implementation of the Palestinian people’s decision to expel the occupation [Israel] from the West Bank and free it of settlers.” Meanwhile, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner said Abbas “does have a responsibility” for the spike in violence due to the PA leader’s call for mass civil unrest to protest the US peace initiative.