FATAH OFFICIAL: ARAB STATES PRESSURING US TO ACCEPT ‘DEAL OF THE CENTURY’
Trump has nothing to offer us, Netanyahu doesn’t believe in peace, says Abbas
BY KHALED ABU TOAMEH.APRIL 21, 2019 23:17
Senior Fatah official
has said that some Arab states have been exerting “immense pressure” on the
Palestinians to accept Trump’s peace plan, also known as the “deal of the
century.”
The unnamed official told Al-Khaleej Online news that Saudi Arabia was spearheading the
campaign of pressure to force the Palestinians to positively respond to Trump’s
upcoming plan.
“Some Arab countries, especially
Saudi Arabia, Egypt
and the United Arab Emirates, are very interested in the deal of the
century,” the official claimed. “They are using all means, including
political and financial blackmail, to force the Palestinians to accept the deal
of the century despite all the dangers it poses to the Palestinian cause.”
The Palestinian leadership, the official said, will not submit to any Arab,
American or even Israeli pressure to accept the deal.
Meanwhile,
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that the US
administration has nothing to offer the Palestinians after all the decisions it
has taken since December 2017, including recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s
capital, the transfer of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and the
suspension of US financial aid to the Palestinians.
Abbas hinted that the Palestinians were close to making “decisive decisions” in
wake of the policies and measures taken by Israel and the US administration.
Palestinian key decision-making bodies have called for “revising” relations
with Israel, revoking Palestinian recognition of Israel and suspending all
agreements between the two sides.
Addressing an emergency meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo,
Abbas said of US President Donald Trump’s upcoming plan for peace in the Middle
East: “What’s left to offer us? Is there anything left to offer us that would
make us happy? They took Jerusalem and the occupied territories, canceled the
refugees and legitimized settlements. They want to fool us.
They have nothing to offer us. Even if they want to offer something, it will be
worse than anything else.”
He
urged Arabs to provide financial and political support to the Palestinians. “We
are facing difficult challenges,” he said.
In light of the US administration’s policies, Abbas said, the Palestinians will
have to take “appropriate” decisions. “We can’t hear that the holy city of
Jerusalem has been annexed to Israel,” he said. “After this crime, what can we expect?”
He also said the Palestinians don’t recognize Trump’s recent decision to
recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
“We don’t accept the annexation of the Golan, Jerusalem and the Shaba Farms,”
Abbas said, referring to Mount Dov, a small strip of disputed land at the
intersection of the Lebanese-Syrian border and the Golan. “These are all Arab
territories. They are all occupied territories, and Israel needs to quickly
withdraw from them.”
Noting that he has met with Trump four times, Abbas said that during the last
encounter he was left with the impression the US president was supportive of a
two-state solution to the conflict.
“When we met for the fourth time, I had a feeling that we could resolve the
Palestinian issue in half an hour,” Abbas told the Arab ministers. “Trump told
me that he believes in the two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 borders.
He even supported the idea of deploying NATO forces in the West Bank.”
Two weeks
later, Abbas said, he was surprised to hear Trump announce his decision to
recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, relocate the US Embassy from Tel Aviv
to Jerusalem, and halt US financial aid to the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).
“Then Trump halted all financial aid that was provided to us by previous US
administrations,” Abbas pointed out. “Why is he doing this? Why did he change
his position? Our first response was to stop contacts with the US administration,
except for security relations. We cooperate with the US in combating terrorism.
We are committed to combating all forms of terrorism.”
Abbas also lashed out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claiming he does
not believe in peace with the Palestinians. “We know from his positions,
statements and insinuations that he doesn’t believe in peace between us and
them,” he said. “Therefore, he was always saying that there is no Palestinian
partner, although we extend our hand to him for real peace based on
international legitimacy.”
Abbas said that since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, the only time
the Palestinians were hopeful was during the era of former prime minister Ehud
Olmert. “We negotiated with Olmert and had discussions with him, but we didn’t
reach any results, because during the negotiations we found that he was being
taken to prison.”
Abbas denied that he had received any offers from Olmert. “Some say that we
received offers from Olmert, and the truth is, as Olmert later admitted, that
there were understandings between us which were not completed, and which did
not tackle all the issues.”
He accused Israel of “entirely breaching the Oslo Accords and all the
subsequent agreements with the Palestinians, especially the Paris Economic
Protocol. Until when will we tolerate Israel’s failure to honor all the
agreements, while we are committed to all the agreements?” he asked.
Abbas further criticized Israel for deducting millions of shekels from tax and
tariff revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians in response to
payments made by the PA to families of security prisoners and Palestinians
killed during attacks on Israelis.
Abbas said Israel rejected his offer to sit with the Palestinians and Americans
to resolve the dispute over the payments. “We have been paying salaries to the
families of prisoners, martyrs and wounded Palestinians since 1965,” he said.
“It is our duty to care for their families.”
Since 1993, Abbas charged, Israel has not implemented one article of all the agreements
signed with the Palestinians. “I would also like to add that Israel hasn’t
implemented one international resolution since 1947,” he said. “There are 722
resolutions issued by the United Nations General Assembly, 86 Security Council
resolutions and a large number of resolutions in Geneva from human rights
groups. Not a single resolution has been implemented.”
Abbas
told the Arab foreign ministers that he came to consult with them about the
Palestinians’ planned measures to counter Israeli and American policies. “The
Palestinian cause is not the cause of the Palestinian people alone, but the
cause of the Arabs and Muslims,” he said. “We are facing difficult and
impossible circumstances. We came to listen to you and see what are the views
you could give us so we can take the appropriate decision at the appropriate
time, especially as we are about to convene our Palestinian Central Council in
mid-May to take appropriate, decisive and final decisions.”
Earlier, Abbas held talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi
and discussed the latest developments in the Palestinian arena, particularly in
the aftermath of Israel’s decision to deduct Palestinian tax and tariff
revenues.•