Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Ishtaye has accused theUS administration of waging a financial and political war against thePalestinian Authority.
Ishtaye said in a statement issued after he met in Ramallahwith the German Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Niels Annen on Sundaythat the Palestinians basically reject the American initiative to resolve theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict, Xinhua reported.
The US is intending to present a peace initiative, alsoknown as “Deal of the Century’, to resolve the Israeli-Palestinianconflict. The Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian factions announced thatthey are rejecting it.
“Our rejection to the ‘Deal of the Century’ came after(U.S. President Donald) Trump administration moved the U.S. embassy toJerusalem and shut down the offices of Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO)in Washington,” said Ishtaye.
He added that the U.S. and Israel “are waging afinancial war against the Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority, mainlyhalting the annual funds it gave to the United Nations Agency for PalestinianRefugees (UNRWA).”
Meanwhile, Ishtaye announced that the Palestinians are alsorejecting the U.S.-led economic workshop in Bahrain, which is titled”Peace for Prosperity.”
“We can’t carry on with accepting the current situationbecause Israel, which is fully backed by the United States, is stealing outlands and money and undermines any opportunity for the establishment of aPalestinian state,” he said.
Saeb Erekat, Secretary General of the PLO ExecutiveCommittee, who also met with Annen, said in a press statement that thePalestinians are committed to the principle of the two-state solution on 1967border with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Erekat stressed that the Palestinians reject the economicworkshop in Bahrain that is scheduled to be held in Manama on June 25 and 26,adding that “the workshop aims to change the principle of land for land topeace for prosperity.”
In Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya, deputy chief of Islamic Hamasmovement, said that his movement called for a general strike in the Palestinianterritories on June 26, in protest against holding the economic workshop inBahrain.
The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank called forrallies and demonstrations on June 25 and 26 also in protest against theU.S.-sponsored economic workshop that will be held in Bahrain.