Palestinians cut ties with Israel, U.S. after rejecting peace plan

[rooster59]

Palestinians cut ties with Israel, U.S. after rejecting peace plan

By Omar Fahmy and Ulf Laessing

 

Parliament Member Ahmad Tibi from the Joint List Party takes part in a protest against the U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan in the town of Baqa Al-Gharbiyye, northern Israel February 1, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

 

CAIRO (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority has cut all ties with the United States and Israel, including those relating to security, after rejecting a Middle East peace plan presented by U.S. President Donald Trump, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday.

 

Abbas was in Cairo to address the Arab League, which backed the Palestinians in their opposition to Trump's plan.

 

The blueprint, endorsed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for the creation of a demilitarised Palestinian state that excludes Jewish settlements built in occupied territory and is under near-total Israeli security control.

 

"We've informed the Israeli side ... that there will be no relations at all with them and the United States including security ties," Abbas told the one-day emergency meeting, called to discuss Trump's plan.

 

Israeli officials had no immediate comment on his remarks.

 

Israel and the Palestinian Authority's security forces have long cooperated in policing areas of the occupied West Bank that are under Palestinian control. The PA also has intelligence cooperation agreements with the CIA, which continued even after the Palestinians began boycotting the Trump administration's peace efforts in 2017.

 

Abbas also said he had refused to discuss the plan by with Trump by phone, or to receive even a copy of it to study it.

"Trump asked that I speak to him by phone but I said 'no', and that he wants to send me a letter ... but I refused it," he said.

 

Abbas said he did not want Trump to be able to say that he, Abbas, had been consulted.

 

He reiterated his "complete" rejection of the Trump plan, presented on Tuesday. "I will not have it recorded in my history that I sold Jerusalem," he said.

 

PALESTINIAN RIGHTS

 

The blueprint also proposes U.S. recognition of Israeli settlements on occupied West Bank land and of Jerusalem as Israel's indivisible capital.

 

The Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo said the plan did not meet the minimum aspirations of Palestinians, and that the League would not cooperate with the United States in implementing it.

 

The ministers affirmed Palestinian rights to create a future state based on the land captured and occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, with East Jerusalem as capital, the final communique said.

 

Foreign ministers from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, three close U.S. allies, as well as Iraq, Lebanon and others said there could be no peace without recognising Palestinian rights to establish a state within the pre-1967 territories.

 

After Trump unveiled his plan, some Arab powers had appeared, despite historic support for the Palestinians, to prioritise close ties with the United States and a shared hostility towards Iran over traditional Arab alliances.

 

Three Gulf Arab states - Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates - attended the White House gathering where Trump announced his plan alongside Netanyahu.

 

On Tuesday, Netanyahu said he would ask his cabinet this week to approve the application of Israeli law to Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

 

Such a move could be a first step towards formal annexation of the settlements and the Jordan Valley - territory Israel has kept under military occupation since its capture in 1967.

 

Most countries consider Israeli settlements on land captured in war to be a violation of international law. Trump has changed U.S. policy to withdraw such objections.

 

(Reporting by Omar Fahmy, Ulf Laessing, Rami Ayyub, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dan Williams; Editing by Frances Kerry, Kevin Liffey and Nick Macfie)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-02

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[rayluttman]

This was never a deal it is a shake down, Trump is <deleted> hole creeping to the Jewish lobby otherwise they won't allow him to be re-elected.

 

[ThaiBunny]

16 minutes ago, rayluttman said:

This was never a deal it is a shake down, Trump is <deleted> hole creeping to the Jewish lobby otherwise they won't allow him to be re-elected.

The deal has nothing at all to do with the Palestinians, it's been announced now simply as a means of giving Netanyahu something to talk during the election other than his forthcoming corruption trial. You've heard of quid pro quo (not that Trump would ever do such a thing)?

[Cory1848]

33 minutes ago, rayluttman said:

This was never a deal it is a shake down, Trump is <deleted> hole creeping to the Jewish lobby otherwise they won't allow him to be re-elected.

 

The “Jewish lobby” doesn’t determine who gets elected in the United States; Christian evangelical voters who for various reasons are Israel supporters play a far bigger role. In any event, the whole “deal” is just for show, as two thoroughly corrupt heads of government perceive that it will help them in their respective upcoming elections.

[Puchaiyank]

A never ending saga of grief, pain, and destruction going back some 2,000 years...

 

The Jews had no home...they originally took the land by force...after they left the land of Egypt where they were used as slave labor.

 

Fast forward...Jews took the land once again by force in the 1940s...wars and rumors of wars ever since...

 

These two groups hate each other with a passion...no lasting peace in the foreseeable future...If ever.

[Tug]

The art of the deal ehhh naaa just trump pandering for votes at someone else’s expense 

[ehs818]

Seems to me that each successive Middle East Peace Plan since the 70's that has been presented over the years is less acceptable to both the Israelis and the Palestinians. But let's be clear on one thing. The plan offered by Clinton that was rejected by Arafat was the best one and it offered 98% of the land that Palestinians wanted. That proved but one thing to me. The Palestinians don't want peace. And Arafat was not a peace maker, he was a terrorist or freedom fighter, depending on your point of view. They want to be viewed as victims and martyrs, prey on the sympathy of the world. After such a long time I've come to believe that peace will simply never be achieved there. That said, I'd cut off all aid to the Palestinians from the US and from all others. YES, the settlements that the Israelis keep expanding are seriously wrong!! But I've no sympathy any longer for the Palestinians. The Arab Muslims don't give a hoot about them, so why should the West? Let them use the next 70 years trying to pull themselves out of the hole that they have put themselves in. I'm done!

[sammieuk1]

Time for a corfefe tweet to clear things up????

[phkauf]

The Palestinians are the Puerto Ricans of the Arab world - nobody likes them or gives a <deleted> about them. Most of the major Arab countries are ready to move on from their cause since they have done nothing to move the ball forward. While the Arab League and other talk shops will give lip service to their cause, Saudi's and other gulf states are developing significant relationships with Israel. Even in Iran, protestors are chanting To Hell with Palestine - since so much of the government money goes to support the Palestinian terrorists.

What has been tried for the past 30 to 40 years has not worked, so Trump is changing tactics. Good on him for trying and too f'in bad for the Palestinians, they had many opportunities to enter serious negotiations and blew each and every chance. And once again they throw a tantrum like a 5-year old child. 

[Emdog]

Negotiate what? If someone breaks into your house, illegally takes over half of it (and the good parts at that!), won't leave and harms family members who try to get lawbreakers to leave, what do you negotiate? Only negotiating is "terms of surrender" here. Might makes right...

[candide]

3 hours ago, ehs818 said:

Seems to me that each successive Middle East Peace Plan since the 70's that has been presented over the years is less acceptable to both the Israelis and the Palestinians. But let's be clear on one thing. The plan offered by Clinton that was rejected by Arafat was the best one and it offered 98% of the land that Palestinians wanted. That proved but one thing to me. The Palestinians don't want peace. And Arafat was not a peace maker, he was a terrorist or freedom fighter, depending on your point of view. They want to be viewed as victims and martyrs, prey on the sympathy of the world. After such a long time I've come to believe that peace will simply never be achieved there. That said, I'd cut off all aid to the Palestinians from the US and from all others. YES, the settlements that the Israelis keep expanding are seriously wrong!! But I've no sympathy any longer for the Palestinians. The Arab Muslims don't give a hoot about them, so why should the West? Let them use the next 70 years trying to pull themselves out of the hole that they have put themselves in. I'm done!

It was not a all 98% of the land. Check the information.

[Orton Rd]

Israel must be gutted that the people who want to destroy them have cut off ties, oh dear.

[placnx]

3 hours ago, ehs818 said:

Seems to me that each successive Middle East Peace Plan since the 70's that has been presented over the years is less acceptable to both the Israelis and the Palestinians. But let's be clear on one thing. The plan offered by Clinton that was rejected by Arafat was the best one and it offered 98% of the land that Palestinians wanted. That proved but one thing to me. The Palestinians don't want peace. And Arafat was not a peace maker, he was a terrorist or freedom fighter, depending on your point of view. They want to be viewed as victims and martyrs, prey on the sympathy of the world. After such a long time I've come to believe that peace will simply never be achieved there. That said, I'd cut off all aid to the Palestinians from the US and from all others. YES, the settlements that the Israelis keep expanding are seriously wrong!! But I've no sympathy any longer for the Palestinians. The Arab Muslims don't give a hoot about them, so why should the West? Let them use the next 70 years trying to pull themselves out of the hole that they have put themselves in. I'm done!

At the end of the Clinton negotiations the problem was that there were too many settlements and roads that would have turned a Palestinian state into a gruyere, much too close to the Bantustan model of South Africa. Regrettably at the end of negotiations Clinton promised not to blame the result on Arafat, then in public reversed this thus creating the narrative that has lasted to this day.

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, Emdog said:

Negotiate what? If someone breaks into your house, illegally takes over half of it (and the good parts at that!), won't leave and harms family members who try to get lawbreakers to leave, what do you negotiate? Only negotiating is "terms of surrender" here. Might makes right...

Well looking at the current objective reality, the Palestinians are in a much weaker negotiating position than Israel and also they don't have any realistic way to win their goals (however they're defined) through military power. So I disagree with you that the Palestinians should forget about negotiating. But this "deal of the century" is just an insult. They may be in a weaker position but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be treated with respect. 

[jany123]

9 hours ago, ehs818 said:

The plan offered by Clinton that was rejected by Arafat was the best one and it offered 98% of the land that Palestinians wanted. That proved but one thing to me. The Palestinians don't want peace. And Arafat was not a peace maker, he was a terrorist or freedom fighter, depending on your point of view. They want to be viewed as victims and martyrs, prey on the sympathy of the world. After such a long time I've come to believe that peace will simply never be achieved there. That said, I'd cut off all aid to the Palestinians from the US and from all others. YES, the settlements that the Israelis keep expanding are seriously wrong!! But I've no sympathy any longer for the Palestinians. The Arab Muslims don't give a hoot about them, so why should the West? Let them use the next 70 years trying to pull themselves out of the hole that they have put themselves in. I'm done!

You appear to be basing your views on the idea that in rejecting 98% of the lands wanted, Palestinians (and Arafat) demonstrated that they would accept nothing (reasonable) to ensure peace.... that they did not want peace

 

But... if Arafat did not reject 98% of lands returned, will you alter your opinion, which ultimately condemns Palestinians to spending “the next 70 years trying to pull themselves out of the hole... “... or, if this 98% number is proven to be incorrect, will you skew sideways and find justification elsewhere?

[Crazy Alex]

Palestinians cut ties with Israel, U.S. after rejecting peace plan

 

I presume that means they'll be refusing any aid from the US, yes?

[Sujo]

6 minutes ago, Crazy Alex said:

Palestinians cut ties with Israel, U.S. after rejecting peace plan

 

I presume that means they'll be refusing any aid from the US, yes?

Thats up to the US, yes? 

In the meantime palestinians have cut off ties meaning no shared intelligence. Which israel and the US needed.

[Crazy Alex]

8 minutes ago, Sujo said:

Thats up to the US, yes? 

In the meantime palestinians have cut off ties meaning no shared intelligence. Which israel and the US needed.

So Palestinians can't refuse to accept our evil dollars? I say they can- and if they want to cut ties, that would included financial assistance, would it not?

[Harveyg]

14 hours ago, ehs818 said:

Seems to me that each successive Middle East Peace Plan since the 70's that has been presented over the years is less acceptable to both the Israelis and the Palestinians. But let's be clear on one thing. The plan offered by Clinton that was rejected by Arafat was the best one and it offered 98% of the land that Palestinians wanted. That proved but one thing to me. The Palestinians don't want peace. And Arafat was not a peace maker, he was a terrorist or freedom fighter, depending on your point of view. They want to be viewed as victims and martyrs, prey on the sympathy of the world. After such a long time I've come to believe that peace will simply never be achieved there. That said, I'd cut off all aid to the Palestinians from the US and from all others. YES, the settlements that the Israelis keep expanding are seriously wrong!! But I've no sympathy any longer for the Palestinians. The Arab Muslims don't give a hoot about them, so why should the West? Let them use the next 70 years trying to pull themselves out of the hole that they have put themselves in. I'm done!

If you don’t want peace then a price must be paid.  The settlements are not wrong, per se.  They are the price to be paid.  

[candide]

4 hours ago, Crazy Alex said:

Palestinians cut ties with Israel, U.S. after rejecting peace plan

 

I presume that means they'll be refusing any aid from the US, yes?

It's been already halted since February last year.

[stevenl]

6 hours ago, Harveyg said:

If you don’t want peace then a price must be paid.  The settlements are not wrong, per se.  They are the price to be paid.  

Give us one reason why the settlements are not wrong. They're expanding illegally occupied land.

[DaddyWarbucks]

2 hours ago, stevenl said:

Give us one reason why the settlements are not wrong. They're expanding illegally occupied land.

More than one reason could be given.

The case for Eretz Israel is written in stone. 

 

[Harveyg]

On 2/3/2020 at 8:27 AM, stevenl said:

Give us one reason why the settlements are not wrong. They're expanding illegally occupied land.

If you make war and lose(and you don’t want peace, and you chant from the valley to the sea, and you don’t recognize Israel’s right to exist.....)

you pay the price.  

[Sujo]

2 minutes ago, Harveyg said:

If you make war and lose(and you don’t want peace, and you chant from the valley to the sea, and you don’t recognize Israel’s right to exist.....)

you pay the price.  

The illegal price.

[Sujo]

On 2/3/2020 at 6:04 AM, candide said:

It's been already halted since February last year.

Trump supporters dont accept facts.

[Crazy Alex]

On 2/2/2020 at 4:04 PM, candide said:

It's been already halted since February last year.

That's fantastic news. It never made sense to me to fund both sides of a conflict.

[Crazy Alex]

Just now, Sujo said:

Trump supporters dont accept facts.

Not true. I just Googled the issue and found that the aid was in fact stopped February last year.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-47095082

 

Why would I not want to accept such wonderful news as fact?

[Harveyg]

2 minutes ago, Sujo said:

The illegal price.

Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist. Get past that one.  

[stevenl]

7 hours ago, Harveyg said:

Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist. Get past that one.  

This claim is cntentious at best.

 

But most importantly, the occupation is illegal, making the expansion of the settlements even more so.

[Harveyg]

  On 2/4/2020 at 10:56 PM, Harveyg said:

Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist. Get past that one.  

This claim is contentious at best.

 

 

The claim is contentious??  At best? 

 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-chief-we-wont-discuss-recognizing-israel-only-wiping-it-out/

“Over is the time Hamas spent discussing recognizing Israel. Now Hamas will discuss when we will wipe out Israel,” Sinwar said, according to the Hamas-linked news agency Shehab.