Brussels
The European Union (EU) on Tuesday rejected some parts of United States new Middle East peace plan saying the plan broke “internationally agreed parameters”, and warned that any Israeli annexation of Palestinian land would be subjected to challenge.
Last week President Donald Trump had announced his Middle East peace plan which was welcomed by Israel and rejected outright by the Palestinians. The US plan suggests that Israel would retain control of the contested city of Jerusalem as its “undivided capital” and annexe settlements on Palestinian lands.
Trump said Palestinians would be allowed to declare a capital within annexed east Jerusalem.
The EU, which often takes time to respond to international developments because of a need for unanimity among its 27 members, had said last week that it needed to study the Trump plan before it would give its verdict.
EU’s policy chief Joseph Borrell in his public statement said, “To build a just and lasting peace, the unresolved final status issues must be decided through direct negotiations between both parties. He noted the issues of the borders of a Palestinian state and the final status of Jerusalem were among those still in dispute.
“The US initiative, as presented on January 28, departs from these internationally agreed parameters,” Borrell said. “Steps by Israel to annex Palestinian territory if implemented, could not pass unchallenged.”
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) rejected Trump’s plan for the Middle East, calling on its 57 member states not to help implement it.
The OIC, “rejects this US-Israeli plan, as it does not meet the minimum aspirations and legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, and contradicts the terms of reference of the peace process,” it said in a statement.
It called on “all member states not (to) deal with this plan or cooperate with the US Administration efforts to enforce it in any way or form”.
Similarly, the Arab League also rejected the controversial plan saying that it did not meet the “minimum rights” of the Palestinians.
In a statement, the League said it “rejects the US-Israeli ‘deal of the century’ considering that it does not meet the minimum rights and aspirations of Palestinian people.”
Arab states also vowed “not to … cooperate with the US administration to implement this plan.” Angry Palestinians have rejected Trump’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, who say that the plan was deserving to go in the “dustbin of history.”–INP
