Palestinians to abort ‘deal of century’: Hamas leader

Nour Abu Aisha

GAZA CITY: A senior Hamas leader has vowed to bring down any proposed peace plan that does not meet Palestinian demands.

“Any project rejected by the Palestinian people will not pass,” Moussa Abu Mar-zouk said on Twitter on Sat-urday.

He was commenting on media reports about the U.S.-proposed “Deal of the Century” — ostensibly aimed at resolving the decades-long Israel-Palestine conflict.

Abu Marzouk said the Palestinian people have never united around any project except the “resistance”.

The term “Deal of the Century” refers to a back-channel U.S. plan to decisively settle the perennial Palestine-Israel dispute.

Last month, Anadolu Agency revealed details of the plan, which calls for annexing the whole city of Jerusalem and major settlement blocs to Israel in return for establishing a demilitarized Palestinian state.

The plan also calls for making the 12,000-dweller West Bank village of Abu Dis, which borders Jerusalem, as the capital of a future Palestinian state instead of East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in 1967, which Palestinians hope that the city might eventually serve as the capital of a Palestinian state.

The proposed plan also calls for the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, keeping territorial water and airspace under Israeli control and reaching a “just solution” to the issue of Palestinian refugees.

The plan came amid a worldwide outcry over a decision by U.S. President Trump last month to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. (AA)