The 22 member states of the Arab League unanimously rejected as violation of the rights of Palestinians the blatantly pro-Israel "peace plan" unveiled by president Donald Trump on January 28. The Palestinian Authority cutting all ties with the United States and Israel immediately followed this move on Monday.
A joint resolution by the Arab League foreign ministers issued Sunday said the plan "does not satisfy the minimum of the rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people." It describes Trump's proposal as "a new setback for the three-decade peace efforts." It said Arab foreign ministers "reject the US-Israeli deal of the century because it did not meet the minimum rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people."
The resolution cited the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative as an Arab-accepted settlement to the conflict. This initiative offered Israel normal ties with Arab states in return for Palestinian statehood on territory occupied by Israel in 1967.
Trump's proposal, which is his bid to solve the seven decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict, was crafted by an American-Israeli team led Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Kushner is a Modern Orthodox Jew, whose adherents believe in Religious Zionism. The latter is the nationalist Jewish movement espousing the re-establishment of, and support for, a Jewish state in the territory defined as the historic Land of Israel, which is currently Palestine.
No Palestinians were consulted or involved during the making of Trump-Kushner deal. Neither were any Palestinians invited when Trump unveiled the political part of the deal at the White House with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his side.
Trump's peace plan, which he pompously refers to as the "Deal of the Century," gives Israel much of what it wants and allows it to keep much of what it's already seized from the Palestinians. The New York Times said the plan deprives Palestinians of almost everything they've fought for over the decades.
Other critics condemn the plan as a "smokescreen" for the annexation of Palestinian lands. Still others contend the proposal will rob Palestinian statehood of any meaning.
Political analysts said the rejection of the Trump plan is considered a victory for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) because it means Trump and his plan have no support from Arab countries.
"Huge diplomatic victory for Abbas and the PLO," tweeted Khaled Elgindy, a fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. "Even states that attended the Trump/Bibi ceremony (UAE, Oman, Bahrain) are now on record as rejecting. Anything less would've allowed the admin to claim some Arab support. That's no longer possible."
On Monday, the Palestinian Authority severed all ties with the United States and Israel after rejecting Trump's Middle East peace plan. Abbas said there would be no relations at all with the U.S. and Israel, and reemphasized his complete dismissal of Trump's unacceptable proposal.
"We've informed the Israeli side ... that there will be no relations at all with them and the United States including security ties," said Abbas.
Abbas said he had refused to take Trump's phone calls and messages, or even to look at a copy of the plan, because I know he will use this to say he consulted us.
"I will never accept this solution," said Abbas. "I will not have it recorded in my history that I have sold Jerusalem."
Among the many anti-Palestinian provisions of the Trump-Kushner proposal is one that will allow Israel to annex all its West Bank settlements, as well as the Jordan Valley, which accounts for a quarter of the West Bank. Palestinians and most of the international community view Israel's annexation of the West Bank as illegal. The Trump-Kushner proposal will allow Israel to keep nearly all of east Jerusalem.
It also calls for a demilitarized Palestinian state with borders drawn to meet Israeli security needs. It abolishes the right of return for Palestinian refugees displaced by the 1948 war against Israel and their descendants, which is a key Palestinian demand.
The entire proposal will depend on Gaza's Hamas rulers and other armed groups disarming, something they have always completely rejected but which Israel has kept demanding.
The Trump-Kushner proposal will grant Palestinians limited self-rule in parts of the occupied West Bank, and in some neighborhoods on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Israel will control the Palestinian state's borders and airspace and maintain overall security authority.
