More than a hundred Democratic members of the US House of Representatives have expressed strong disapproval at President Donald Trump’s so-called deal of the century. RNA - In a letter on Friday, the lawmakers blamed the team behind the plan for not consulting the Palestinians, saying it would “hurt Israelis and Palestinians alike, pushing them toward further conflict.”
They also criticized the release of the deal, just ahead of the next month's general elections in Israel, arguing that the timing suggests an effort to boost Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s re-election bid.
"It does not have our support, and the Israeli [regime] must not take it as a license to violate international law by annexing all or portions of the West Bank," according to the letter, initiated by Representatives Andy Levin and Alan Lowenthal, who happen to be Jewish.
“In addition to the highly problematic nature of your proposal, the timing of its release suggests motives unrelated to helping solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," the letter read.
On January 28, Trump unveiled his so-called deal of the century, negotiated with Israel but without the Palestinians.
Palestinian leaders, who severed all ties with Washington in late 2017 after Trump controversially recognized Jerusalem al-Quds as the "capital" of the Israeli regime, immediately rejected the plan, with President Mahmoud Abbas saying it “belongs to the dustbin of history.”
Trump’s Middle East scheme largely meets Israel’s demands in the decades-old conflict while creating a Palestinian state with limited control over its own security and borders.
It also enshrines Jerusalem al-Quds as “Israel’s undivided capital” and allows the regime to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank and the Jordan Valley.
The proposal further denies the right of return of Palestinian refugees into their homeland, among other controversial terms.
Thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip took to the streets in immediate condemnation of the plan.
Muslims all across the world have also expressed solidarity with the Palestinian cause and denounced Trump's proposed plan.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, has also said Trump’s pro-occupation plan is doomed to die even before the US president’s own death, adding that Washington’s push “will definitely end in failure.”
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