‘Thousand no’s’ greet Trump’s peace scheme
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said “a thousand no’s” to the Mideast peace plan announced Tuesday by President Trump, which strongly favors Israel.
The Palestinians remain committed to ending the Israeli occupation and establishing a state with its capital in East Jerusalem, Abbas said in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where the Westernbacked Palestinian Authority is headquartered.
“After the nonsense that we heard today, we say a thousand no’s to the Deal of The Century,” he said.
The plan would create a Palestinian state in parts of the West Bank, but would allow Israel to annex its settlements in the occupied territory. The plan would allow the Palestinians to establish a capital on the outskirts of East Jerusalem but would leave most of the city under Israeli control.
Trump also promised to provide $50 billion in international investment to build the new Palestinian entity and open an embassy in its new state.
“We will not kneel and we will not surrender,” Abbas said, adding that the Palestinians would resist the plan through “peaceful, popular means.”
The Islamic militant group Hamas rejected the “conspiracies” announced by the U.S. and Israel and said “all options are open” in responding to the Trump administration’s plan.
“We are certain that our Palestinian people will not let these conspiracies pass. So, all options are open. The (Israeli) occupation and the U.S. administration will bear the responsibility for what they did,” senior Hamas official Khalil alHayya said as he participated in one of several protests that broke out across the Hamasruled Gaza Strip.
Protesters burned tires and pictures of President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Abbas held an emergency meeting with other Palestinian factions, including Hamas, to discuss a unified response to the plan. Abbas had rejected the deal before it was announced saying the U.S. was hopelessly biased toward Israel.
The Palestinians cut off all contacts with the Trump administration after it recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel more than two years ago and moved the embassy there.
Late on Tuesday, Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli forces on the outskirts of Ramallah, near the Jewish settlement of Beit El.