Palestinians reject Kushner claim

THE Palestinians yesterday rejected US allegations of incitement after a day of clashes and attacks left three Palestinians dead and more than a dozen Israelis wounded.

They instead linked the violence to President Donald Trump’s Middle East initiative, which heavily favours Israel on all the most contentious issues of the conflict and would allow it to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank.

“Those who introduce plans for annexation and apartheid and the legalisation of occupation and settlements are the ones who bear full responsibility for deepening the cycle of violence and extremism,” senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said in a statement.

He was responding to remarks delivered the day before by Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law and the architect of the Middle East blueprint, who had blamed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for the latest violence.

“Don’t call for days of rage and encourage (your) people to pursue violence if they’re not getting what they want,” Mr Kushner said yesterday after briefing the UN Security Council on the plan.

He said Mr Abbas “was surprised with how good the plan was for the Palestinian people, but he locked himself into a position” by rejecting it before it came out.

Mr Erekat said Mr Abbas would soon bring his own plan to the Security Council, one that he said was rooted in international law and based on a two-state solution along the 1967 lines.

The Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, territories seized by Israel in the 1967 war. They view Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as a major obstacle to peace.

The Trump plan would allow Israel to annex all its settlements as well as the strategic Jordan Valley.

It would give the Palestinians limited autonomy in several chunks of territory with a capital on the outskirts of Jerusalem, but only if they meet nearly impossible conditions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has eagerly embraced the plan. The Palestinians have adamantly rejected it, but Mr Abbas has not called for violence. His security forces work with Israel to combat militant groups in the parts of the West Bank where Israel allows them to operate.

Mr Abbas has threatened to cut off security co-ordination in response to the Trump plan, but is not believed to have done so.