The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has strongly condemned US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, dubbed “the deal of the century,” saying it translates into Washington’s recognition of the Israeli regime’s apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territories. RNA - “The climate and atmosphere, which Americans have created with their statements and positions vis-à-vis the so-called deal of the century will encourage Israel’s ruling right-wing coalition and the majority of extremists and settlers to swallow up the rest of the Palestinian land,” the ministry announced in a statement on Thursday.
It further noted that the decisions made by Trump’s administration and Israeli authorities are nothing but an attempt to legitimatize and deepen apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The statement said such remarks and positions fall within an American-Israeli scheme to dash Palestinians’ hopes and aspirations for freedom, independence and establishment of a Palestinian state.
On Tuesday, Israeli Hebrew-language daily newspaper Israel Hayom, which is close to Netanyahu, published a leaked document circulated by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, detailing the elements of the US back-channel peace plan. The plan is made up of the following main points:
- A tripartite agreement will be signed between the Tel Aviv regime, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) as well as the Hamas resistance movement, which controls the besieged and impoverished Gaza Strip, and subsequently a Palestinian state will be established that will be called “New Palestine.”
- "New Palestine" will be established in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, with the exception of Israeli settlements built on Palestinian land in the West Bank.
The settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law and UN Security Council Resolution 2334, will remain under the Israeli regime’s control and will expand to reach out to other isolated settlements.
Moreover, the Israeli-occupied city of Jerusalem al-Quds will not be divided but is to be shared by Israel and “New Palestine,” with the Israeli regime maintaining general control.
The Arab population living in Jerusalem al-Quds will be citizens of New Palestine, but the Tel Aviv regime would remain in charge of the municipality and therefore the land.
The newly formed Palestinian state would pay taxes and water costs to the Jerusalem al-Quds municipality.
Trump’s so-called “peace plan” has been dismissed by Palestinian authorities ahead of its unveiling at the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan and the formation of the new Israeli cabinet, most likely in June.
Speaking in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on April 16, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh lashed out at Trump’s initiative, asserting that it was “born dead.”
Shtayyeh noted that negotiations with the US were useless in the wake of the country’s relocation of its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds, which Palestinians consider the capital city of their future state.
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