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?????????????????????????????????????????????????Saturday, June 23, 2018
Chief Palestinian negotiator says US peace plan will 'normalise Israeli apartheid'
Veteran mediator Saeb Erekat says Trump's 'deal of the century' isn't a deal - and is already being implemented on the ground
Saeb Erekat watches as US President Donald Trump announces embassy move to Jerusalem (AFP)
Friday 22 June 2018
US President Donald Trump's proposed "deal of the century" peace plan
for Israel and Palestine is not a deal and is already being implemented
by Washington and its allies on the ground, the chief Palestinian
negotiator has told Middle East Eye.
Amid mounting speculation that the Trump administration will announce
details of its plan within days, Saeb Erekat, a veteran negotiator, said
Palestinian negotiators had yet to see an official draft of the
so-called deal.
And he said the Americans had become "nothing else than spokespeople for
the Israeli occupation" whose intention was to "normalise Israeli
apartheid".
'If anyone walked away, it was the Trump emissaries whose plan has nothing to do with a just and lasting peace and a lot to do with normalising the Israeli apartheid regime'- Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator
MEE reported in
March that Saudi officials had delivered a copy of the deal to
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, but he refused to open
the document.
"If there's any plan, this is being implemented on the ground: with
moving the US embassy to occupied Jerusalem, withdrawing support for the
two-state solution, cutting funds to UNRWA and, eventually, trying to
normalise the Israeli apartheid in Palestine," Erekat said.
Erekat's comments come as Jared Kushner, the US envoy to the Middle East
and Trump's son-in-law, and Jason Greenblatt, Trump's Middle East peace
negotiator, are meeting with leaders in the region to discuss the plan.
Sources told Israeli daily Haaretz that
the Americans aim to convince Gulf leaders to invest in economic
projects in the Gaza Strip, including energy projects, as a first step.
A rare meeting earlier this week between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman fuelled speculation
about whether a backdoor deal was being made over the peace plan.
Anti-austerity protests rocked the kingdom earlier this month leading one Jordanian official to suggest that
Gulf leaders had withheld aid to pressure the king over Jerusalem where
Jordan has had custodianship of the holy sites since the British
mandate of Palestine in the early 20th century.
Jared Kushner at the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem last month (AFP)
After the meeting, Netanyahu's office released a statement saying that the prime minister "reiterated Israel's commitment to maintaining the status quo at the holy sites in Jerusalem".
Asked whether he was worried that Jordan would give in to parts of the
deal in exchange for holding on to its custodianship, Erekat told MEE
that Palestinian relations with Jordan were "very strong".
"King Abdullah has been clear in his statements calling for a free
Palestine with its capital in East Jerusalem. We are coordinating
everything with the Jordanian side," he said.
'No table to walk from'
Erekat has been involved in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations since 1991 when a friend reportedly passed
him a note from Palestine Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat
asking if he would join the Palestinian delegation at the Madrid peace
conference as deputy head of delegations. Erekat refused at first, but
then eventually agreed.
He became a Palestinian negotiator in 1995, and was first elected as a
member of the Palestinian parliament a year later. He has resigned
several times over the years from his role as head negotiator, but holds
the position again today.
'Our position is based on international law and UN resolutions. We are not going to accept anything short of that, and nobody could impose anything upon us'- Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator
Since Trump came to power, Erekat has had several contentious exchanges
with Kushner over recent American interventions in the conflict,
according to an account this month in the New Yorker magazine.
When Erekat complained to Kushner that the Palestinians were struggling
to organise meetings with the Israelis, Kushner reportedly said: "We
told them they shouldn't meet with you now."
Erekat responded that it didn't make sense. "It's much better for us to
meet with the Israelis," he was quoted as saying. "You're not going to
make peace for us."
"You think all of a sudden you're going to meet at your house, and have
tea, and you'll be able to agree on something you haven't been able to
agree on for 25 years?" Kushner was quoted as responding.
"That's all in the past... Show me what you think is an outcome that you can live with."
According to the New Yorker, Erekat likened the conversation to dealing
with stockbrokers: "If I don't take 30 cents on the dollar now, I'll get
15 cents next year."
MEE asked Erekat what the consequences would be if the Palestinians walk
away from what the Americans eventually put on the table.
Abu Dis, 4km east of Jerusalem, was cut off from the city by Israel’s wall more than a decade ago (AFP)
"I disagree with your assumption," he said. "There is no table to walk
away from. It's not like we were negotiating and suddenly we decided to
leave.
"If anyone walked away, it was the Trump emissaries whose plan has
nothing to do with a just and lasting peace and a lot to do with
normalising the Israeli apartheid regime."
The Palestinian position, he said, is based on international law and UN
resolutions. "We are not going to accept anything short of that, and
nobody could impose anything upon us," he said.
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In January, a month after Trump announced that the US would move its embassy to Jerusalem, Palestinian President Abbas told the
Palestinian Central Council that the Palestinians were being offered
Abu Dis, a small East Jerusalem suburb, as the capital of a future
Palestinian state.
The president didn't expand on which party had proposed Abu Dis, which
is 4km east of Jerusalem and was cut off from the city entirely by
Israel's separation wall more than a decade ago. Some reports have suggested it was the Saudis.
Erekat, who is from Abu Dis, said it wasn't a Saudi proposal, but that, in any case, it was a non-issue.
"The boundaries of the city of Jerusalem, our eternal capital, are very
well-known. There will be no Palestinian state without Jerusalem as its
capital," he said.