Palestinian leader calls Trump’s, peace deal the ‘slap of the century’

In a combative, two-hour speech brimming with colourful insults, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas denounced President Trump on Sunday, calling his forthcoming peace proposal “the slap of the century.”   

He said Palestinians were being offered the Jerusalem suburb of Abu Dis as the capital of their future state, rather than East Jerusalem, which most of the international community considers illegally occupied by Israel. The area sits outside Israel’s security barrier and has been floated but rejected as a capital for a Palestinian state in previous negotiations.  “We said no to Trump,” Abbas said. “We won’t accept his project; his deal of the century is the slap of the century, and we will respond.”  Abbas was addressing members of the Palestinian Central Council as they began to discuss their response to the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Proposals include rescinding Palestinian recognition of Israel, pursuing Israel for war crimes at the International Criminal Court and advancing efforts for a Palestinian state to be recognized internationally.   

He questioned where Trump had offered negotiations. “On the phone? On television?”   “I see a tweet,” he said. “We will not give Palestinians money because they refuse to negotiate.”   Abbas has said that the United States can no longer be a fair arbiter for negotiations, but that the Palestinians are open to talks in line with the Arab Peace Initiative, a framework endorsed by the Arab League in 2002.   

By · Loveday Morris ·(c) 2018, The Washington Post Jan 15, 2018 - JERUSALEM -