Palestinian President Abbas denounces Trump's so-called peace plan for Middle East as gift to Israel

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, appearing before the United Nations Security Council, angrily rejected U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East peace proposal on Tuesday as a gift to Israel and unacceptable to Palestinians.

Waving a copy of a map that the U.S. plan envisions for a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, Abbas said the state carved out for Palestinians looks like a fragmented "Swiss cheese."
"This is an Israeli-American pre-emptive plan in order to put an end to the question of Palestine. It was rejected by us because it considers that East Jerusalem is no longer under the sovereignty of the state of Palestine - that alone is enough for us to reject this plan," Abbas said in a statement.

His appearance came as a draft U.N. Security Council resolution is being circulated that would condemn an Israeli plan to annex its settlements in the West Bank, in what would amount to a rebuke of the Trump plan.

The draft text, circulated to council members by Tunisia and Indonesia, would face a certain U.S. veto, but nonetheless reflected some members' dim view of the peace plan that Trump rolled out two weeks ago with great fanfare.

Abbas called on Trump to disavow the plan and seek a return to negotiations based on existing U.N. resolutions that call for a two-state solution based on pre-1967 border lines. He urged the Security Council to hold an international conference to implement a settlement.

"The U.S. cannot be the sole mediator," he said.

Suggesting violent protests could break out, Abbas said that "the situation could implode at any moment. ... We need hope. Please do not take this hope away from us." Later he said Palestinians would not "resort to terrorism."

Trump's plan, the product of three years' effort by senior adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, would recognize Israel's authority over West Bank settlements and would require the Palestinians to meet a difficult series of conditions to be allowed to have a state, with its capital in a West Bank village east of Jerusalem.

Released on Jan. 28, the plan drew immediate Palestinian condemnation for imposing strict conditions and agreeing to let Israel maintain control of long-contested West Bank settlements.

Although Trump's stated aim was to end decades of conflict, the plan he advanced favored Israel, underscored by the absence of Palestinians from Trump's White House announcement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his side.

While the Palestinians have rejected the plan, a number of Arab governments have said it represents a starting point for a renewal of long-stalled negotiations.

Abbas said the deal is not an international partnership but rather a proposal from one state supported by another state to be imposed on Palestinians.

"This is the state that they will give us," said Abbas. "It's like a Swiss cheese, really. Who among you will accept a similar state and similar conditions?"

Addressing the 15-member council and UN chief Antonio Guterres through a translator, Abbas said Trump's proposal "legitimizes what is illegal," including Israel's "annexation of Palestinian land."

"We will confront its application on the ground," the Palestinian leader said, while stressing that "we will fight with peaceful means."

Abbas did not slam Trump, however, saying that he didn't know who had given him this "unacceptable advice."

"The President Trump that I have met is not like that," he said.

Abbas concluded that Palestinians and Israelis "only have one choice: we have to be partners, we have to be neighbours, each in their own country, sovereign country. Let us remain committed to this just choice before it's too late."

Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered in the West Bank city of Ramallah earlier Tuesday to show support for Abbas' position against the US plan for the Middle East while he's in New York. The rally was called by Abbas' Fatah party and other factions in the West Bank.

Protesters, some of whom were bused in, carried Palestinians flags and signs condemning the plan, saying Jerusalem was not for sale.

A planned vote in the Security Council on a draft resolution to condemn Trump's plan was called off following US pressure, several diplomats told dpa on Monday.

The plan would give Israel control over Jewish settlements on the West Bank and the strategic Jordan Valley, while also calling for the creation of a Palestinian state. It differs significantly from the 1967 borders that have previously been the basis for peace plans.

Palestinians have outright rejected the plan, fearing it will recognize Israeli claims to parts of the West Bank that they want for their future state of Palestine.

A poll released by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research on Tuesday showed that 94 per cent of Palestinians rejected the deal.