Palestinian president says to cut relations with Israel, U.S. over Trump’s peace deal
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (C) speaks during an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt on Feb. 1, 2020. Mahmoud Abbas said here on Saturday that his authority informed the Israeli and U.S. sides that it will "cut all relations" with them over the recently released U.S. peace plan. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)
CAIRO, Egypt | 2020-02-02 Sunday (Xinuha)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said here on Saturday that his authority informed the Israeli and U.S. sides that it will “cut all relations” with them over the recently released U.S. peace plan.
“We told the Israelis that we will not have any relations with them or with the United States, including security relations,” Abbas told an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League (AL) headquarters in the Egyptian capital of Cairo.
Announced in Washington on Jan. 28 by U.S. President Donald Trump, in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the U.S. peace plan was rejected by the Palestinians.
Abbas said his authority sent two letters to both Netanyahu and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to convey the Palestinian rejection of the deal.
“The U.S. deal is completely rejected once they announced annexing Jerusalem to Israel,” Abbas told the Arab foreign ministers in the meeting attended by AL Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit.
The Palestinian president said that the United States is a biased mediator, saying that he will head to the United Nations Security Council to protest the deal and find a solution.
He added that Washington wants to abolish former UN resolutions and international legitimacy decisions related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and use the new U.S. plan as the only reference.
Abbas revealed that he declined the U.S. requests to receive a copy of the proposed deal, known as the “Deal of the Century,” or to receive letters or phone calls from Trump after the deal was announced.
“We have the right to continue our legitimate struggle through peaceful means to end the (Israeli) occupation and establish our independent state,” said Abbas, calling for international and regional support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinians.
Abbas urged the formation of an international mechanism to implement the resolutions of international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative endorsed by the AL in Beirut in 2002.
“We will not accept the United States to be the sole mediator of the peace process,” Abbas added.
The United States, Israel’s main backer, officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in late 2017 and moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city later in May 2018.
The Palestinians seek to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital in light of the UN-proposed two-state solution based on the pre-1967 borders.
