As of Wednesday evening, Republican candidate Trump won 289 of 538 electoral votes, while his Democrat opponent Hillary Clinton cinched 218, in a landslide victory which came as a surprise to many observers.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu congratulated Trump on his win, calling him “a true friend of the State of Israel”.
“The ironclad bond between the United States and Israel is rooted in shared values, buttressed by shared interests and driven by a shared destiny,” Netanyahu added. “I am confident that President-elect Trump and I will continue to strengthen the unique alliance between our two countries and bring it to ever greater heights.”
#IsraeltheRegion #DonaldTrump #MahmoudAbbas #NabilAbuRudeineh Abbas congratulates Trump, urges him to pursue peace… https://t.co/zM5jIkFyxy
— Israel News (@IsraelNewsNow) November 9, 2016
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials reacted a little more cautiously.
Ahead of the results, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said that the Palestinian Authority (PA) would “deal with any president elected by the American people on the principle of achieving permanent peace in the Middle East based on the two-state solution on the June 4, 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
Following the results, Abbas sent Trump a message congratulating him on his victory, and expressed his hopes for “just and comprehensive peace” in the Middle East and the world during Trump’s four-year term, official PA news agency Wafa reported.
I congratulate Donald Trump on being elected the 45th President of the United States of America. pic.twitter.com/mD2lIn6L2k
— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) November 9, 2016
In the besieged Gaza Strip, de facto ruling party Hamas called upon Trump to “re-evaluate his country’s policy towards Palestinians” and to work on treating Palestinians evenhandedly.
The Hamas movement said in a statement that the suffering of the Palestinian people was ongoing due to continuous American policies favoring Israel.
(MA’AN)
