‘A new Balfour’: Palestinians angered by Trump’s Middle East plan

Palestinian politicians and activists slammed the proposal, with many promising to ‘fight against the plan’.
Jerusalem, Palestine – United States President Donald Trump’s Middle East plan, also known as the “Deal of the Century”, has been denounced by the Palestinians as a “new Balfour Declaration”.
Trump revealed his plan on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu standing by his side at the White House.
Introducing the plan as a “win-win solution” for both Israelis and Palestinians, he said the deal would ensure the establishment of a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Trump led his statement by introducing the Israeli side of the plan, announcing that Jerusalem will remain the “undivided capital” of Israel, adding that this has “already been done”. He also said he hoped to implement the plan “immediately”.
Netanyahu, speaking after Trump, thanked the US president for a “historic day”, adding that the plan would see Israeli law implemented in the occupied West Bank’s Jordan Valley as a means to ensuring the security of Israel. Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli military sent troops there as reinforcement in anticipation of possible clashes following the announcement.
‘Already in the works’
Palestinian politicians and activists slammed the proposal, with many pledging to “fight against the plan”.
Fakhry Abu Diab, a Palestinian activist in Silwan neighbourhood in East Jerusalem, told Al Jazeera: “It is obvious that Trump is repeating history by establishing new Balfour Declaration.
“He [Trump] is giving away what he does not own, to people who have no right to it,” said Abu Diab.
Following Britain’s pledge to establish “a national home for the Jewish people”, the Balfour Declaration was issued on November 2, 1917. It turned the Zionist aim of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine into a reality.
The British pledge has been viewed as one of the main catalysts of the Nakba and regarded as one of the most controversial and contested documents in the modern history of the Arab world.
“This deal only secures Israeli interests while violating international law and some of the main pillars of a Palestinian state – Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.
“After decades of sacrificing our lives for this cause, we want our freedom and a Palestinian state along the 1967 border, not some economic gains.
“We completely reject this plan and will continue to fight it,” he added.
Source: .aljazeera.com/