CAIRO, Feb 2 (NNN-MENA) – Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, said here 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, Cairo.
Announced in Washington on Jan 28, by U.S. President, Donald Trump, in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu, the U.S. peace plan was rejected by the Palestinians and most other Arab and Muslim countries.
Abbas said, his authority sent two letters to both Netanyahu and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, to convey the Palestinians’ 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, the U.S. 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 recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in late 2017, and moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city 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.– NNN-MENA
