RAMALLAH, Palestine, May 9 (NNN-WAFA) – The Palestinian Authority Prime Minister, Mohammad Ishtaye, accused the United States of blackmailing the Palestinians to surrender, and accept its upcoming peace plan, known as “Deal of the Century.”
“It is obvious that the recent U.S. measures, taken against the Palestinians, aimed at obliging us to surrender and accept the peace deal,” Ishtaye told a delegation of American academics and think-tanks.
He said that, considering Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, closing Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) office in Washington, and stopping aid to the Palestinians “were all made to blackmail us.”
“If the ‘Deal of the Century’ doesn’t include Jerusalem, the border or the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, so why should we accept it,” said Ishtaye.
“We saw practices on the ground worse than the text of the deal itself,” the prime minister noted.
Ties between the Palestinian Authority and the United States had been severed, after U.S. President, Donald Trump, announced that Jerusalem was the capital of Israel in Dec. 2017, and then moved U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to the city.
Ishtaye was responding to the recent unveiling parts of the peace deal that the United States is determined to declare soon, to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Secretary General of the PLO Executive Committee, Saeb Erekat said, after meeting with the U.S. delegation that, the Palestinians are sticking to the two-state solution on the 1967 borders.
“The Palestinian side is sticking to international laws and international legitimacy, wants to live in peace and security at the side of the state of Israel and resolve all the final status issues,” said Erekat.
“Talking only about economic projects and improving the daily living conditions, while the Israeli occupation goes on, will lead to more violence, chaos and blood shedding,” he emphasised.– NNN-WAFA
