Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas confirmed today, Saturday, that the Palestinian leadership rejected the deal of the century in full and in detail, and that it had informed Israel through a letter addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his government should shoulder its responsibilities as an occupying power.
President Abbas made clear during a speech to Arab foreign ministers at the emergency meeting held in Cairo to discuss the "Deal of the Century", that two letters were sent to Israel and the United States, which were delivered to Netanyahu and the CIA, that Israel canceled the signed agreements and violated the international legitimacy that was based on it. These agreements, and for this they were informed that there will be no relationship with the two sides, including security relations in light of their denial of signed agreements and international legitimacy, and that Israel has to bear responsibility as an occupying power.
The President stressed that the Palestinian leadership will not accept the US administration as the sole mediator for any negotiations. "There is no place on the negotiating table for any part of the American deal," he added.
He pointed out that the world will not accept the injustice imposed on the Palestinians. Calling all Arab countries to support and assign the leadership to confront this deal.
He pointed out that the Palestinian leadership will go to the international community, and that it will search for an alternative solution, and there will be no solutions.
He confirmed that he refused to receive a copy of the US plan, and he also refused to receive a phone call from US President Donald Trump.
"I refused to receive the plan and receive Trump´s calls because I knew he would build on him that he had consulted us," he said. Noting that there was no contact with the Trump administration because he no longer believed them.
He pointed out that since the United States began working on the negotiations paper, there has been no progress on the Palestinian issue. Noting that Trump met 4 times and his delegation 37 times came to the Palestinian territories, and these meetings did not produce anything.
He stated that he told Trump that he wanted to build a Palestinian state whose people would live in security, safety and stability, and that he believed that the Palestinian people could live in a demilitarized state.
He said, "We were surprised, two months after the first positive meeting with Trump, that he announced that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and he stopped his aid to us by about 840 million dollars, and for the International Relief Agency."
President Abbas touched on the details of the deal of the century, noting that it includes a temporal and spatial division of Al-Aqsa Mosque. Noting that it requires that "Abu Dis" be the capital of the proposed Palestinian state, not all of Jerusalem, which was occupied in 1967.
And that the deal extracts 30 percent of the West Bank in favor of Israel, leaving the Palestinians from their historical state only 11 percent, after what they had 22 percent. Noting that it gives the Israelis full control over what is west of the Jordan River.
He pointed out that it ignores the refugee issue, and will give the Triangle area with its Arab population to the Palestinians to get rid of them.
And he stated that they stipulated the Palestinian leadership to prove goodwill, to recognize the Jewishness of Israel and a state without sovereignty, to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, to disarm Gaza and abolish the right of return. Noting that the plan gives Israel the power to implement immediately, while the Palestinians are not entitled to this until after 4 years.
"I think Trump does not know anything about the deal of the century," he said. "Rather, those who have a relationship are the trio who were on his side, and they are Friedman and the boy Kouchner and Greenblatt, and they were the ones who conveyed Netanyahu´s ideas to him."
"Just because they said that Jerusalem included Israel, I said, I will never accept this solution, and I will not register on my history and my country that I sold Jerusalem, because Jerusalem is not for me alone, but for all of us."
The President praised the international and Arab reactions from the deal of the century. He called on the world to support the Palestinian leadership and people to confront this deal and to achieve peace and justice for the Palestinian cause.
