PLO official calls US ambassador and US special envoy “settlers” after they participated in inauguration of "Judaization tunnel"

Headline: “Friedman participates with his hammer in the inauguration of a settlement tunnel in Silwan”

“Yesterday [June 30, 2019] US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and American Special Envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt participated in the inauguration of a ‘Judaization tunnel’ in the neighborhood of Wadi Hilweh, in the town of Silwan (sic., a neighborhood in Jerusalem) south of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was called ‘the Pilgrimage Road’ (see note below –Ed.).

The Wadi Hilweh information center explained that the Elad settler association (i.e., the parent group of the City of David Foundation, which excavated the Pilgrimage Road) has worked in recent years on excavating the tunnel under homes, streets, and buildings in the neighborhood, and is presenting it as part of the path of the pilgrims to ‘the Second Temple circa the first century CE.’ …

The center added that the inauguration of the tunnel and the continued work on tunnels under the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood come at a time when the authorities are neglecting the safety of the residents, as the scope of the cracks, fissures, and landslides in the homes, streets, and yards of Wadi Hilweh is expanding.

PLO Executive Committee Secretary Saeb Erekat said: ‘I ask the entire world, including the American people, to watch the settler Friedman and the settler Greenblatt next to him as they dig under the Palestinian town of Silwan. He cannot be the ambassador of the US; he is the chairman of the settlement council. Those who were present at the workshop in Manama (i.e., refers to US-led conference in Bahrain in June 2019 focusing on economic aspects of US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan) need to watch [them] in order to see the prosperity of the settlement enterprise and the threat to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.’”

Saeb Erekat also holds the following positions: Fatah Central Committee member and PLO Chief Negotiator.

Pilgrimage Road – US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, US Envoy Jason Greenblatt, and US Senator Lindsey Graham took part in the inauguration ceremony of the Pilgrimage Road underground archaeological site, located south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, on June 30, 2019. The excavated road was used by Jewish pilgrims visiting the Second Temple around the first century CE, and the Arab neighborhood of Silwan has since been built above it.