GAZA STRIP (Dispatches) – Some Arab states are exerting "immense pressure” on the Palestinians to accept President Donald Trump’s controversial Middle East plan, dubbed "the deal of the century,” a senior Fatah official says.
"Some Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, are very interested in the deal of the century,” the unnamed official told Al-Khaleej Online news.
"They are using all means, including political and financial blackmail, to force the Palestinians to accept the deal of the century despite all the dangers it poses to the Palestinian cause.”
Trump’s so-called "peace plan” is expected to be unveiled at the end of the holy month of Ramadan in June.
The Fatah official stressed that the Palestinian leadership would not submit to any Arab, American or even Israeli pressure to accept the deal.
The plan formulated by Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner is likely to "stop short of ensuring a separate, fully sovereign Palestinians state,” the Washington Post said last week.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.
The last round of Zionist-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was the Zionist regime’s continued settlement expansion on Palestinian territories.
Outgoing French Ambassador to the United States, Gerard Araud, has told U.S. magazine The Atlantic that the deal is 99% doomed to fail.
Addressing an emergency meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the Trump’s administration has nothing to offer the Palestinians.
"They want to fool us. They have nothing to offer us. Even if they want to offer something, it will be worse than anything else,” he said.
Abbas hinted that the Palestinians were close to making "decisive decisions” in reaction to the Israeli and American measures.
Among the Palestinians, top decision-making bodies have called for "revising” ties with the regime, revoking Palestinian recognition of the Zionist regime and suspending all agreements between the two sides.
Abbas called on Arab states to provide financial and political support to the Palestinians, saying, "We are facing difficult challenges.”
The Palestinian Authority is facing steep aid cuts after Trump slashed hundreds of millions of dollars to humanitarian organizations helping Palestinians.
Israel has also decided to deduct millions of shekels from tax and tariff revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.