Rabat – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has strongly rejected the US peace plan for the Middle East, known as the “Deal of the Century.”
“Jerusalem is not for sale,” Abbas declared on January 28 after US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled the plan during a press conference in Washington, D.C.
“We say a thousand times: No no and no to the deal of the century.”
Trump’s plan recognizes Israeli sovereignty over major illegal settlement blocs in the West Bank. With the proposed plan, Israel would consolidate its sovereignty in the Jordan Valley and other strategic areas of Judea and Samaria, and Jerusalem would remain the capital of the Jewish state.
Trump says his plan offers Palestine “more than double” its current territory with a capital in East Jerusalem, where “America will proudly open an embassy.”
Abbas vowed that the plan will “not come to pass.”
The Palestinian president declared that the legitimate rights of Palestinians are “not for sale and not for bargaining. Your conspiracy deal won’t pass.”
Abbas has no doubts that his “people” will throw the offer in the “dustbin of history.”
Morocco denounced the “Deal of the Century” last year, months after Jared Kushner, the primary architect of the plan, visited the kingdom to meet with senior Moroccan officials.
Head of Government Saad Eddine El Othmani affirmed on September 29, 2019, that King Mohammed VI had already rejected the deal “once and for all.”
The Justice and Development Party (PJD), Morocco’s Islamist ruling party, also maintains its steadfast position in support of the Palestinian cause.
The PJD disapproves of all plans opposing the legal status of Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.
“The ‘Deal of the Century’ is against the resolutions of international legitimacy and the rights of the Palestinian people,” El Amrani said.
“Jerusalem is not for sale,” he repeated.
Palestine’s ruling body, the Palestinian Authority, has been boycotting any talks with the US and Israel since 2017 when Trump announced the US’s formal recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki announced yesterday that the Arab League Council will convene an emergency meeting on Saturday, February 1 to discuss the US Middle East plan.
Read also: Palestine: Trump Administration Unveils First stage of ‘Deal of the Century’
