Palestinian Authority rejects Trump peace plan revealed in Israeli report

"Rumors ... about the deal of the century, as well as ongoing attempts to find regional and international parties that would cooperate with this plan, are failed attempts that will reach a dead end."

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Updated: JANUARY 17, 2019 01:13
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas walks to speaks to the media after his meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah at the Royal Palace in Amman, Jordan October 22, 2017 (photo credit: REUTERS/MUHAMMAD HAMED)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas walks to speaks to the media after his meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah at the Royal Palace in Amman, Jordan October 22, 2017
(photo credit: REUTERS/MUHAMMAD HAMED)
The Palestinian Authority said on Wednesday that "any peace plan that does not include an independent Palestinian state - with all of East Jerusalem as its capital - on the 1967 borders, is destined to fail."
The PA was responding to a report on Channel 13 News that claimed that US President Donald Trump's "deal of the century" will include a Palestinian state on 85% - 90% of the West Bank and some parts of east Jerusalem.
Nabil Abu Rudaineh, spokesman for the PA presidency in Ramallah, said that the "rumors and leaks about the deal of the century, as well as ongoing attempts to find regional and international parties that would cooperate with this plan, are failed attempts that will reach a dead end."
Any proposals pertaining to the political process, he said, should be based on international resolutions and the principle of the two-state solution.‭‮
The report, based on a source who took part in a briefing in Washington on the plan by a senior American official, said it calls for the annexation of the large settlements and the evacuation of settlement outposts deemed illegal under Israeli law.
Regarding Jerusalem, the report stated that the city would be divided, with west Jerusalem and some areas of east Jerusalem the capital of Israel, and east Jerusalem – including most of the Arab neighborhoods – the capital of a Palestinian state.
Israel would retain sovereignty over the Old City and its immediate environs, the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, but it would be administered together with the Palestinians, Jordanians and perhaps other countries.
Herb Keinon contributed to this report.