Arab League Says Trump Peace Plan Wastes Palestinian Rights as Europeans Review it

Arab World

January 29th, 7:36am

Asharq Al-Awsat

Palestinians protests against Trump's Middle East peace plan. (Reuters)

Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Abul Gheit said on Wednesday that the first reading of US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan indicates a great waste of legitimate rights of Palestinians. However, the Arab League is "studying the American vision carefully. We are open to any serious effort made to achieve peace," he said. France said it welcomed Trump's latest efforts to strike a peace deal between Palestine and Israel, and added that Paris would have to study the proposals closely. Trump on Tuesday proposed creating a Palestinian state as part of a Middle East peace plan, drawing Palestinian condemnation for imposing strict conditions and agreeing to let Israel maintain control of long-contested West Bank settlements. "France welcomes President Trump's efforts and will study closely the peace program he has presented," said a statement from the French foreign ministry, which also reiterated France's desire for a two-state solution on Israel and Palestine. Russia said it would study the plan and called on Palestinian and Israelis to negotiate directly to find a “mutually acceptable compromise.” Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said: “We do not know if the American proposal is mutually acceptable or not. We must wait for the reaction of the parties.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to visit Moscow on Wednesday to present the plan to Russian President Vladimir Putin. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Trump's initiative “provides an occasion to re-launch the urgently needed efforts towards a negotiated and viable solution" to the conflict. He said the EU would “study and assess the proposals put forward." He reiterated the bloc's commitment to a “negotiated and viable two-state solution that takes into account the legitimate aspirations of both the Palestinians and the Israelis, respecting all relevant UN resolutions and internationally agreed parameters.” Germany, the EU's most powerful player, echoed Borrell's point by calling for a balanced approach. "Only a negotiated two-state solution, acceptable to both sides, can lead to a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said. Britain, which is leaving the EU on Friday, gave the warmest reaction. "This is clearly a serious proposal, reflecting extensive time and effort," British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a statement. Earlier, Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to Trump to discuss the plans. Downing Street said the proposal "could prove a positive step forwards". UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the United Nations supports two states living in peace and security within recognized borders, on the basis of the pre-1967 borders, according to his spokesman. “The position of the United Nations on the two-state solution has been defined, throughout the years, by relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions by which the Secretariat is bound," the spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said. Trump’s plan presented a vision that matched Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-line, nationalist views while falling far short of Palestinian ambitions. The plan envisions a disjointed Palestinian state that turns over key parts of the West Bank to Israel. It sides with Israel on key contentious issues that have bedeviled past peace efforts, including borders and the status of Jerusalem and Jewish settlements, and attaches nearly impossible conditions for granting the Palestinians their hoped-for state. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed the plan as “nonsense” and vowed to resist it. Netanyahu called it a “historic breakthrough” equal in significance to the country's declaration of independence in 1948. The Palestinians seek all of the West Bank and east Jerusalem — areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war — for an independent state and the removal of many of the more than 700,000 Israeli settlers from these areas. The only concession the plan appears to demand of Israel is a four-year freeze on the establishment of new Israeli settlements in certain areas of the West Bank. Thousands of Palestinians protested in Gaza City ahead of the announcement. The Palestinians cut off all contacts with the Trump administration after it recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel more than two years ago and moved the embassy there, saying it was no longer an honest broker in the peace process. Late on Tuesday, Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli forces on the outskirts of Ramallah, near the Jewish settlement of Beit El.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2104751/arab-league-says-trump-peace-plan-wastes-palestinian-rights-europeans-review-it