Saeb Erekat, Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s Executive Committee, said today that all clauses of the draft resolution submitted by the State of Palestine before the meeting of the Arab League foreign ministers last Wednesday, including the rejection of the “deal of the century” plan, have been adopted.
Erekat said during a radio interview that during the meeting, there were disagreements among the Arab League members concerning the condemnation of the United Arab Emirates, “yet the rejection of this clause by some Arab countries does not mean that all the Arab countries have agreed to what the UAE is doing. We will know that very well when we see who will attend the signing of the UAE-Israeli peace deal at the White House in a few days.”
“What the UAE did is not tolerated and is a grave breach of the Arab Peace Initiative. The UAE[-Israel] normalization deal is a heavy blow. We cannot deny that Kushner was able to achieve a breakthrough, and he is right that this is a change in the Middle East,” said Erekat.
“However, Kushner is fully aware that the deal of the century, the occupation and the settlement enterprise are destined to failure. Kushner is aware that peace must be concluded with the Palestinian people, on the basis of ending the occupation and achieving the independence of the State Palestine on the borders of 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, as well as resolving all final status issues according to international law,” he added. “There will be no security, peace and stability in the region as long as the Israeli occupation continues.”
Erekat continued, “The “deal of the century” is not a peace plan. Rather, it was proposed to legitimize annexation and apartheid, because it considers all of the Palestinian land, including borders, border crossings, East Jerusalem and holy sites, as Israeli.”
“We will never compromise our rights. Everyone should remember that the PLO’s acceptance of the principle of the two-state solution on the 1967 borders was a response to the international consensus and international legitimacy.”
