US aid cut meant to force change in stance on Jerusalem: Palestinians!

• The Palestinians were outraged by President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesman said on Saturday that the US decision to cut more than $200 million in aid is meant to force the Palestinians to abandon their claim to Jerusalem.

Nabil Abu Rudeneh said the move is part of continuing political and financial pressure on the Palestinian leadership. He said the Americans must be fully aware that there will be no peace without east Jerusalem as capital of a Palestinian state.The Palestinians were outraged by President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and his moving of the US embassy there in May.

The Trump administration says it's cutting bilateral aid to the Palestinians after a review of funding for projects in the West Bank and Gaza and will redirect the money to "high priority projects elsewhere".

However, several former US officials said that cutting back aid money to the Palestinians would only strengthen Abbas' more radical rivals in the Hamas movement that rules Gaza.

"The US is ceding space to Hamas in Gaza," tweeted Dave Harden, until recently the USAID director in the Palestinian territories. "No security professional recommends an aid cut off in Gaza. None."