Israeli - Palestinian Conflict: Palestinian Prime Minister Rejects Trump Peace Plan

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh Monday rejected President Trump’s long-awaited Middle East peace plan, saying it amounts to a “bribe” and provides no basis in it to resolve the conflict.

The Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry called on the international community to issue a “clear … declaration rejecting the ‘deal of the century.’”

“This proposal is a plan to protect Trump from impeachment and Netanyahu from prison,” Shtayyeh said. “We call on the international community not to be partners in this plan, because it goes against international law and the rights of the Palestinian people, which are not for sale.”

Nevertheless, Trump expressed optimism about the plan.

"We think we will ultimately have the support of the Palestinians," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump scheduled meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz at the White House this week to discuss the deal, ahead of Israel’s third parliamentary election in less than a year on March 2. No Palestinian representatives were invited to the briefing.

The administration has kept details of the plan close. Peace talks collapsed in 2014, and an economic plan presented by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner was roundly rejected by the Palestinian leadership when it was unveiled in Bahrain in June. It called for $50 billion in investment to boost the Palestinian economy and the economies of some Arab states.

Among the key issues need to be addressed are the status of Jerusalem, including its historical sites, mutually agreed borders, security arrangements and the plight of Palestinian refugees. Agreement also would have to be reached on sharing natural resources like water.

Among Palestinian demands are the removal of 400,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank and 200,000 in East Jerusalem.

“I think that the president is seeking to give Israel the peace and security that it deserves,” Netanyahu said in accepting Trump’s invitation to a briefing.

"I am going to Washington with a great sense of purposes, great responsibility and great chance, and I am hopeful we can make history," he said.

Netanyahu has given lip service to a two-state plan for resolving the conflict that is supported by European leaders but announced plans to annex a large chunk of the West Bank, an area Palestinians say is essential to their future state.

Trump repeatedly has delayed unveiling his plan. Palestinian and Arab sources told Reuters it amounts to a bribe to get Palestinians to accept Israeli occupation as a prelude to annexation. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Six Day War.

Shtayyeh said the plan would “finish off the Palestinian cause. We reject it.”

King Abdullah of Jordan, one of only two Arab states that have peace treaties with Israel, also has rejected the plan.

“Our position is perfectly well-known. We will not accept proposals that come at our expense,” Abdullah said Sunday in Aqaba city.

Al-Jazeera reported the Palestinians have threatened to withdraw from the 1993 Oslo Accords if Israel and the United States sign the deal. Hamas leader Ismail Haniya warned signing the deal could lead to renewed violence.