Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected the American peace plan outright, calling it a “conspiracy.”
During a press conference held in the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Abbas said “What should I wait for? If Jerusalem is not part of it (a Palestinian state) will we accept a State without Jerusalem? It is impossible for any Palestinian, Muslim or Christian child to accept this. Therefore, we told them from the beginning, No!” Further affirming his stance on the deal, declaring “I say to the partners Trump and Netanyahu: Jerusalem is not for sale, all our rights are not for sale and are not for bargain. And your deal, the conspiracy, will not pass.”
The Palestinian leader later conducted a phone conversation with the leader of the Islamist Hamas organization, during which they agreed to work together on confronting what they referred to as: the U.S.-Israeli schemes.
Meanwhile in the Gaza Strip hundreds of Islamists rallied in the Hamas-controlled territory, during which they vowed to persist in their armed struggle to oust the Jewish people from the land, which they declare to be “Palestine.”
Senior Hamas official, Khalil al Haiyeh, who attended the rally underscored that regardless of any international attempt, the Palestinians will continue to fight to conquer all of Jerusalem; arguing “This is our land and this is our capital, we will not accept any alternative, we will not accept only part of it nor [just] part out of it. Jerusalem is Palestine’s capital and we don’t care about Trump. Jerusalem will stay ours with all its churches, al-Aqsa mosque and all the sacred sites.”
In response to the outright rejection of the Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative, Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, who is one of the architects of the American initiative, said “They rejected the plan before they saw it. They thought it wasn’t gonna be as good as it was so I think they look quite foolish today. Also, one of the great ironies is they keep saying they want to be a state. If you’re a state, you don’t call for days of rage when you don’t get what you want. So, this is a real moment for them to show the world ‘are you ready to become a state or not?'”