{"id":152840,"date":"2020-02-03T12:00:53","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T12:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=152840"},"modified":"2020-01-31T09:10:23","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T09:10:23","slug":"trump-plan-will-finish-off-palestinian-cause-pm-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/02\/trump-plan-will-finish-off-palestinian-cause-pm-warns\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Plan Will ‘Finish Off Palestinian Cause’, PM Warns"},"content":{"rendered":"

US president’s proposal will dash hopes for an independent state, Palestinians officials say.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Prime Minister Shtayyeh described Trump’s plan as a ‘distraction’ from domestic troubles.\u00a0 [Raneen Sawafta\/Reuters]<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/em>28 Jan 2020 – <\/em>Palestinian<\/a> leaders have decried US President Donald Trump<\/a>‘s plan for the Middle East as an effort to “finish off the Palestinian cause”.<\/p>\n

Trump on Monday [27 Jan] held separate meetings with right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a>\u00a0and his election rival, Benny Gantz, in Washington, DC over his long-delayed proposal that has been kept secret.<\/p>\n

“We reject it and we demand the international community not be a partner to it because it contradicts the basics of international law and inalienable Palestinian rights,” Palestinian Prime Minister\u00a0Mohammad Shtayyeh said.<\/p>\n

“It is nothing but a plan to finish off the Palestinian cause.”<\/p>\n

Palestinians fear the plan will dash their hopes for an independent state in the occupied West Bank<\/a>, occupied East Jerusalem<\/a>, and the besieged Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

Palestinian leaders say they were not invited to Washington and no plan can work without them.<\/p>\n

Trump said the White House would release his plan at noon (17:00 GMT) on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority (PA) called on ambassadors of Arab and Muslim countries to boycott the event where the plan is expected to be unveiled.<\/p>\n

On Monday night, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas, was quoted by Wafa news agency as saying: “We call on Arab and Muslim ambassadors who have been invited to the unveiling of the deal of the century \u2026 not to attend these ceremonies that we consider a conspiracy aimed at undermining the rights of the Palestinian people.”<\/p>\n

Abu Rudeineh added that the plan aims to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.<\/p>\n

Distracting Tactics<\/strong><\/p>\n

Earlier, Shtayyeh said Trump and Netanyahu were using the proposal as a distraction from their domestic troubles.<\/p>\n

Trump was impeached<\/a> in the House of Representatives last month and is on trial in the Senate on abuse of power charges. Netanyahu faces corruption charges and a national election on March 2 – his third in less than a year. Both deny any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

“This plan is to protect Trump against being impeached and to protect Netanyahu from going to jail, and it is not a peace plan,” Shtayyeh said at a cabinet meeting in Ramallah.<\/p>\n

Palestinian and Arab sources briefed on the draft fear it seeks to bribe Palestinians into accepting Israeli occupation, in what could be a prelude to Israel annexing about half of the West Bank – including most of the Jordan Valley, the strategic and fertile eastern-most strip of the territory.<\/p>\n

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