For the past 50 years, all international resolutions have stipulated that a future Palestinian state should be established within the borders existed on June 4, 1967. That includes all the West Bank, occupied Jerusalem, and Gaza. Thus, any plan or a proposal which overlooks this undeniable right is unacceptable.
According to the Israeli media, the United States has apparently told Benjamin Netanyahu’s government that Washington was ready to support Israel’s planned illegal annexation of at least 30 per cent of the West Bank on the condition that land should be ‘earmarked’ by Israel for the future Palestinian state. This not just absurd, it is farcical.
The international community has condemned the annexation plans, except for the US, which seems to be, according to the Israeli media, negotiating the terms of giving the go-ahead for Netanyahu’s plans. Israel says the US approval is part of President Donald Trump’s so-called ‘Deal of the Century’. That is one more reason to reject the American plan. By annexing a third of the occupied land and usurping the entire Jerusalem, Israel is effectively knocking down any possibility for a viable Palestinian state.
The Middle East has been suffering, for more than 70 years, the results of the 1911 Belfour Declaration in which Britain promised the Jews a homeland in Palestine. Today, the Americans are doing the same, by promising Israel something that doesn’t belong to them. The Palestinians are the only people who will decide on their future.
The Arabs have made it clear that such plans are unacceptable. The latest unequivocal declaration to that effect was made on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi.
It is essential to build on these initiatives internationally to exert pressure on Netanyahu to give up his atrocious plan that would undoubtedly kill whatever a glimmer of hope left in the peace process.
At the meeting, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and King Abdullah of Jordan said that Israel’s annexation plan would undermine the prospects of peace in the Middle East, especially the two-state solution. They called for pan-Arab coordination with other world powers to reject the plan and ensure a just, lasting and comprehensive peaceful settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which will lead to the establishment of an independent, sovereign and viable Palestinian state along the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The position of the two leaders is important in rallying international support for the rights of the Palestinians to restore their right to self-determination. It is essential to build on these initiatives internationally to exert pressure on Netanyahu to give up his atrocious plan that would undoubtedly kill whatever a glimmer of hope left in the peace process.
