Abbas at AL: Palestine to Halt All Relations with US

Moments ago, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced that all sorts of relations with America have been cut following the biased peace plan announced by US President Donald Trump.

Relations between Palestine and US were almost cut following the Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as a capital for Isreal. Back then, cooperation was confined to the security level, with continuous talks kept between the Palestinain authorties and the US Central Intelligence Agency.

President Abbas's remarks came as he was addressing the Arab League’s emergency session convening in Cairo to discuss a joint Arab position to the US peace plan revealed on Tuesday by US President and in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The meeting at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo was requested by the Palestinians, who responded angrily to the U.S. deal.

Earlier, President Abbas, declared that the rights of the Palestinian people as well as Jerusalem are not for sale, repeating "a thousand no's" to the proposal.

He said the Palestinians remain committed to ending the Israeli occupation and establishing a state with its capital in east Jerusalem.

The Arab League's head, Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, said on Wednesday that an initial study of the plan's political framework showed that it "ignored legitimate Palestinian rights in the territories."

He said the Palestinian response would be key factor in shaping a "collective Arab position" on the plan, which he noted was a "non-binding U.S. vision."

On his part, Majdi al-Khaldi, a diplomatic adviser to Abbas, said the meeting aims at issuing a "clear declaration" rejecting the deal.

According to Trump long-awaited proposal Israel would annex all its West Bank settlements — which the Palestinians and most of the international community view as illegal — as well as the Jordan Valley, which accounts for roughly a fourth of the West Bank.

In return, the Palestinians would be granted statehood in Gaza, scattered chunks of the West Bank and some neighborhoods on the outskirts of Jerusalem, all linked together by a new network of roads, bridges and tunnels.

The plan would abolish as well the right of return for Palestinian refugees displaced by the 1948 war and their descendants, a key Palestinian demand.