Muslim nations reject Trump’s peace plan as biased
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Days after Gulf Arab states expressed their support for President Trump’s efforts at resolving the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, representatives from the same countries and other Muslim nations gathered in Saudi Arabia and rejected the White House’s plan as “biased.”
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the kingdom backs efforts that push for negotiations, but said such initiatives must reach a fair resolution that ensures the rights of the Palestinian people “through the creation of an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
He spoke at a gathering in the Saudi city of Jiddah for the 57nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which denounced Trump’s plan.
The formal rebuke by the OIC comes just days after Arab League nations unanimously rejected the White House’s proposals at a meeting in Cairo, where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas threatened to cut security ties with Israel and referred to White House adviser Jared Kushner, the chief architect of the plan, as simply Trump’s soninlaw.
The White House plan heavily favors Israel and ignores many of the Palestinians’ core demands by keeping some 750,000 Jewish settlers in place, recognizing Israel’s sovereignty of the strategic Jordan Valley, and asserting Jerusalem as the “undivided capital” of Israel.
The OIC slammed “the biased approach” of the White House, saying the plan adopts the Israeli narrative and endorses the annexation of vast areas of occupied Palestinian land under the pretext of security for Israel. The group said the U.S. proposal “lacks the minimum requirements of justice and destroys the foundations of peace.”
The OIC’s statement stressed that East Jerusalem is “the eternal capital” of a future Palestinian state and said it remains the cornerstone issue of Muslims around the world. The OIC was formed 50 years ago in response to an extremist arson attack on the AlAqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, one of Islam’s most sacred sites.
The OIC urged support for Palestinian diplomatic efforts and for member states to work with the U.N. Security Council to reject proposals that contradict international law.