Mohammad Shtayyeh said Trump’s Mideast plan ‘will be buried’

The Palestinian prime minister lashed out Sunday at
U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to end the Mideast conflict, saying it
would be “buried very soon.”
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Mohammad
Shtayyeh said the U.S. plan was “no more than a memo of understanding between
(Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and Trump.”
Shtayyeh criticized the fact that the proposal would
leave a future Palestinian state fragmented and with “no sovereignty,” allowing
Israel to annex large parts of the West Bank. He urged other countries to
reject the Trump proposal while maintaining that Palestinians “are open to
serious negotiations.”
Shtayyeh suggested the Palestinians would seek to
increase pressure on Israel through international organizations, citing the
recent release by the U.N. human rights office of a list of more than 100
companies allegedly complicit in violating Palestinian human rights by
operating in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Referring to the upcoming Israeli election, Shtayyeh
said the difference between Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz and Netanyahu
was “not more than the difference between Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola.”
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said
any future peace talks must be sponsored by international teamwork, not only
through the US. His remarks came during a meeting with 21 Republican and
Democrat members in the US Congress on Saturday, on the sidelines of the 56th
Munich Security Conference (MSC).
Shtayyeh also added that any solution to the
Palestinian cause shall be based on with UN resolutions. He stressed that the
recently announced “Deal of the Century,” which aims at resolving the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict, does not meet the Palestinian citizens’ minimum legitimate rights.
He also highlighted the seriousness of the decisions
issued by the US administration regarding the Palestinian cause, noting in
particular “the attempt to liquidate its components, the most important of
which is the refugee issue.”
Shtayyeh warned against Israel’s schemes to annex
the Jordan Valley and some area in the West Bank, saying such plan undermines
any chance to establish a geographically connected Palestinian state.
Palestinians are now working on convincing the world
that it is necessary to adopt President Mahmoud Abbas’s vision to launch
negotiations under international multilateral sponsorship for a specified
period of time.
Abbas said these talks shall be based on
international legitimacy and would cancel any previous resolutions and settlements
or anti-peace measures. However, the US and Israel rejected the proposal.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)
Executive Committee is scheduled to hold a consultative meeting on Sunday in
Ramallah to discuss the Palestinian action at both domestic and international
levels against the peace deal announced by US President Donald Trump earlier
this year.
Committee Member Saleh Raafat said the consultative
meeting will also tackle the next steps on what was announced at the UN and the
Human Rights Council on companies operating in settlements in the West Bank and
the occupied Golan Heights, whether Israeli, European or US companies.
“Messages will be sent to all foreign countries that
have companies operating in the settlements in order to close them and hold
them accountable, in accordance with the Human Rights Council decision, which
considered that these companies have violated international laws,” Raafat
explained.
Russia, Europe and China are working to counter this
peace deal and are seeking to hold a real international peace conference, in
which many countries participate along with the Arab Quartet, he noted.