(MENAFN) Due to his support of the settlers in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday lashed out at the U.S. ambassador to Israel calling him a "settler" and "son of a dog."
Abbas' remarks were made at the opening of a meeting of the members of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee and his Fatah Central Committee held in the city of Ramallah.
"The U.S. administration claims that Israeli settlement is legitimate, and this is what more than one U.S. official said, including their ambassador in Tel Aviv David
Friedman," Abbas said.
He then angrily stressed the "Son of a dog (Friedman) says they (Israelis) are building in their land. He is a settler and his family members are settlers."
Friedman, a strong supporter of Israel's settler movement, was an early and enthusiastic advocate of US President Donald Trump's 6 December decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel"s capital and to move the US embassy there.
Friedman responded during a speech in Jerusalem to a conference on combating global anti-Semitism, saying: "His response was to refer to me as son of a dog. Anti-Semitism or political discourse? Not for me to judge, I leave that all up to you."
US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt issued a statement calling Abbas" comment "highly inappropriate." He said the Palestinian leader needed "to choose between hateful rhetoric and concrete and practical efforts to improve the quality of life of his people."
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