Arab League Rejects Trump's Mideast Peace Plan

In its emergency meeting held on Saturday, the Arab League (AL) announced its complete rejection of the Middle East peace plan, which was announced by US President Donald Trump, saying it would not lead to a just peace deal.

"The AL will not cooperate with the United States to execute the plan," a final communique said. "Israel should not to implement the initiative by force," it added.

The meeting comes days after the US unveiled its plan which is seen as favoring Israel.

A number of Arab senior officials including Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, and the United Arab Emirates’ minister of state for foreign affairs attended the meeting.

In a statement, the AL added that it rejected the US-Israeli ‘deal of the century’ due to incompatibility to meet the minimum rights and aspirations of Palestinian people.

Arab states also vowed “not to ... cooperate with the US administration to implement this peace plan.”

They insisted on a two-state solution that includes a Palestinian state based on borders before the 1967 Six-Day War – when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza – and with east Jerusalem as its capital.

The US plan suggests that Israel would retain control of the contested city of Jerusalem as its “unpided capital” and annex settlements on Palestinian lands.

Trump said Palestinians would be allowed to declare a capital within annexed east Jerusalem.

Abbas said on Saturday, “There will be no relations” with Israel and the US including on security cooperation following their “disavowal of signed agreements and international legitimacy.”

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

Relations between Palestine and the US were almost cut following 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 Palestinian authorities and the US Central Intelligence Agency.