The United States will not present its long-awaited plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace any time soon and is instead trying to unilaterally change the terms of reference for any future proposal, a senior Palestinian official said on Saturday, according to a Reuters report.
Echoing deep skepticism among the Palestinians, Arab countries and analysts, Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian chief negotiator, said that the Trump administration was siding with Israel on the core issues of the decades-old conflict, burying all chances for Middle East peace.
Erekat: #US will never present Middle East peace plan #Israel #Palestine #Gaza #Trump https://t.co/z9ZHeg1LQa pic.twitter.com/NDLn7ArqZY
— Arab News (@arabnews) September 15, 2018
Erekat said in an interview with Reuters in Jericho:
“I don’t think they will ever introduce a plan, the whole world is rejecting their ideas. They are already implementing their plan by changing the terms of reference.”
Doubts have mounted over whether Trump’s administration can secure what he has called the “deal of the century” since December when the US President recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and then moved the US Embassy there.
Echoing deep scepticism among the Palestinians, Arab countries and analysts, Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian chief negotiator, said the Trump administration was siding with Israel on the core issues of the decades-old conflict, burying all chances for peace.https://t.co/hFrOVF871u
— ☆Société Mattachine☆ ?? Rebels without a pause (@theMattachines) September 15, 2018
Erekat said it appeared that the United States has accepted Israel’s positions on other main issues of the conflict, and not just Jerusalem, including the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees from wars dating to 1948 and Israeli settlements on land Palestinians envisage as part of their future independent state.
But Trump’s Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt told Reuters in that Washington was prepared for Israeli criticism of the plan and that both sides can expect parts they will like and dislike. He provided no further details.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)'s Washington office is set to close after an order of the Trump administration, with PLO secretary-general Saeb Erekat calling the move a "policy to collectively punish the Palestinian people" https://t.co/cceOH1k4Mt pic.twitter.com/nNxCQ3WRKs
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) September 10, 2018
Greenblatt, a chief architect of the initiative, said US negotiators had entered the “pre-launch phase” of the plan, despite the boycott by Palestinian leaders, but declined to specify a time frame.
US officials have so far been non-committal about whether their plan would endorse the creation of a Palestinian state beside the state of Israel – the goal of previous rounds of negotiations, the last of which collapsed in 2014.
Erekat: “I sat w/Trump’s team 35 times. ..I have never in my life endured an experience like this. From the v beginning I asked Kushner &Greenblatt to set up a meeting for me with my Israeli counterparts. They refused. I asked them to let us conduct direct neg’ns. They refused.” https://t.co/j4UlnVc9vc
— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) September 13, 2018
Erekat said:
“They are telling us ‘peace based on the truth’.”
He added:
“The Kushner truth and the Netanyahu truth is that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital, no right of return to refugees, settlements are legal, no Palestinian state on 1967 (borders) and Gaza must be separated from the West Bank and this is absolutely unacceptable.”
10 Things You Need to Know about 'Deal of the Century' – https://t.co/930WhBMLbV
— Steven Hudson (@itsstevenhudson) July 12, 2018
Palestinians have limited self-rule in the West Bank, but Israel controls most of that territory and has expanded its settlements there. Most countries deem the settlements illegal, though Israel disputes this. It withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza, which is ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
