Thousands of Palestinians rally against Trump plan amid struggle at UN

'All Palestinian people and all factions, national and Islamic, are behind Abbas,' Palestinian PM tells protesters packing main square in Ramallah ahead of president's UN speech pillorying U.S. peace proposal; 'All the streets are full,' Shtayyeh says, 'this is the Palestinian response'

Associated Press|Updated:02.11.20 | 13:08

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Thousands of Palestinians rallied Tuesday in the West Bank to reject President Donald Trump's Mideast peace initiative and to express support for the Palestinian leadership as it tries to gain support at the United Nations for a resolution opposing the plan.
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plans to deliver a speech at the UN later in the day, but members will not be voting on a draft resolution.
3 View gallery 
Palestinians protest in Ramallah against the Trump peace plan, Feb. 11, 2020 
(Photo: EPA)
Palestinian officials denied the resolution had been pulled, but diplomats said many members, including European countries, rejected the language in a draft that had circulated.
Trump's Mideast plan, announced at the White House on Jan. 28, sides with Israel on virtually all of the most contentious issues of the decades-old conflict. 
It would allow Israel to annex large parts of the West Bank, including Jewish settlements that are home to hundreds of thousands of people and are considered illegal by most of the international community.
The Palestinians, who cut off ties with the U.S. after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017, have adamantly rejected the plan.
Protesters packed Al-Manara Square in Ramallah, the West Bank headquarters of the Palestinian Authority. They waved Palestinian flags and held banners condemning the plan.
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Palestinians protest in Ramallah against the Trump peace plan, Feb. 11, 2020 
(Photo: AFP)
An English-language banner read "Trump is part of the problem not the solution," while another condemned the "theft of the century" - a reference to Trump's own "deal of the century" moniker for the plan.  
"All Palestinian people and all the factions, national and Islamic, are standing behind President Mahmoud Abbas,"Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh told the crowd.
"All the streets are full," he said. "This is the Palestinian response."
Abbas has tried to rally international support against the Trump plan, with some success. 
The Arab League unanimously sided with the Palestinians against the plan, but key U.S. allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia said they appreciated Trump's efforts and called for renewed negotiations. 
Israel and the Palestinians have not held peace talks in almost than a decade.
The European Union issued a statement last week reiterating its support for a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines. The Palestinians want to establish a state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, territories Israel captured from Egypt and Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War.
3 View gallery 
Palestinians protest in Ramallah against the Trump peace plan, Feb. 11, 2020 
(Photo: EPA)
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the U.S. initiative "departs from these internationally agreed parameters."
The original draft resolution, co-sponsored by Tunisia and Indonesia and backed by the Palestinians, said the U.S. plan violates international law and Security Council demands for a two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders. 
The resolution had been expected to be put to a vote on Tuesday. But diplomats said many of its provisions were not acceptable to European and other council members.
Any resolution is virtually guaranteed to be vetoed by the United States, but the Palestinians had hoped that a strong show of support from other members of the council would help shore up international backing for their demands.

First published: 14:41, 02.11.20

3Comments

"Palestinians" are Israel's vanquished mortal foes

Israel's problems with "Palestinians" could have been solved way back in 1948 if we simply treated them like the vanquished mortal foes they are. Instead of insanely licking their boots, begging and bribing them to sign a peace treaty.

Chaim| 02.12.20

The United Nations organization, 2020.

The UN served/serves/will serve, to be strengthened and democratised already in 1945 , at this moment and (perhaps) in the future, to serve any people, any nation and GOD"S humankindpeople, on Earth and beyond.

Sjoerd van der Velde| 02.12.20

Look at the pictures: all unemployed men.

Does it really matter what the land under your home is called? Israel, Palestine, New Flibberjabbet, it doesn't make the home or the people any less important or useful to society. Why do all these Arab men have time to attend these demonstrations ? Why aren't they in school or at work? What? The utopia of the West Bank under President Abbas hasn't produced thousands of good jobs? Why is that? What has Abbas been doing all these years so that he has no successes to show the world? Israel should stop this nonsense once and for all. Reclaim the west bank and make it part of Israel. Bring law to the region, and taxation, and public utilities, and good schools, and good hospitals, which will create plenty of decent-paying jobs for everyone. The two-state solution is dead. It never could work and never will work- it just give Arab 'leaders' an excuse to rob the Arabs blind and enrich themselves. If Canada came in and said, "The United States is now part of Canada, everything else remains the same," I doubt anyone would lift a finger or protest anything. The Arabs have used 'Palestine' as a tactic to chip away at Israel's right to be. It's time the world said 'enough,' and told the Arabs to get with the program and grow up, you are citizen's of Israel, now get on with your lives, you've wasted too many years already.

David| 02.11.20