US efforts to resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict destined to fail: Official

Rasa - The Palestinian Authority says the so-called peace plan, which has been promoted by the United States to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is "meaningless" as it lacks the support of Palestinians.

News ID: 438294

Date: 18 June 2018 - 23:24

RNA - Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said on Saturday that purported US efforts to resolve the decades-long dispute in the region are doomed to failure.

He also referred to a Friday meeting between UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, White House special adviser Jared Kushner and US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt in New York, where they discussed Washington's so-called peace efforts and the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

“The round of meetings that began in New York, whose purpose is to bring a meaningless plan, won’t achieve anything,” Abu Rudeineh said.

Kushner and Greenblatt are set to visit Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Qatar next week to hold talks with regional leaders on US President Donald Trump's initiative for the Middle East and the Gaza situation.

“Without the agreement of the Palestinian people, the fate of the series of meetings will be a total failure,” the Palestinian official said.

“It is a waste of time and destined to fail, as long as the attempt to circumvent the legitimate Palestinian institutions continues,” he added.

Earlier this week, Abu Rudeineh told Palestine's official WAFA news agency that any plan that does not recognize East Jerusalem al-Quds as the Palestinian capital or address the problem of refugees will be unsuccessful.

The US-Palestine ties deteriorated last December, when Washington recognized Jerusalem al-Quds as the “capital” of Israel and announced plans to transfer the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds.

According to Press TV, the contentious move led President Mahmoud Abbas to formally declare that Palestinians would no longer accept the US as a mediator to resolve the conflict because Washington was  “completely biased” towards Tel Aviv.

The US embassy relocation took place on May 14, the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Nakba Day (the Day of Catastrophe), sparking deadly clashes in Gaza.

Israel lays claim to the whole Jerusalem al-Quds, but the international community views the city’s eastern sector as an occupied territory and Palestinians consider it as the capital of their future state.

The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was Israel's continued settlement expansion on Palestinian territories.

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