Palestinian Authority: Trump's 'Deal of the Century is thwarted'

Palestinian Authority: Trump's 'Deal of the Century is thwarted'
The Palestinian Authority has thwarted Trump's so-called 'Deal of the Century' as Ramallah and Washington tensions continue to rise.
2 min read
22 July, 2018
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is a critic of Trump [Getty]
US President Donald Trump's so-called "Deal of the Century" roadmap for Middle East peace - seen as hugely favourable to Israel - has been thwarted by Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority (PA) announced on Saturday.

The Ramallah based PA blasted the deal, saying it would have been a regional disaster if US President Donald Trump was to implement his plan.

"Thanks to the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and the leadership’s commitment to the national constants, the US-led ‘deal of the century’ has been thwarted," PA spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a statement according to the authority's official news agency, WAFA.

"If the deal had succeeded, it would have become a regional deal affecting all the peoples and countries of this region," he said.

The spokesman admitte that the Middle East region is currently at a crossroads. 

Abu Rudeina urged Arab nations to support the Palestinian stance in ensuring the deal does not take off.

"They [Arab countries] have to stick together for the national interest to prevent the transformation of the 'Deal of the Century' - which has slowed down but is not yet over - into a regional deal whose consequences cannot be predicted," he said. 

Last week in Moscow, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas - whose official term of office expired in 2009 - met Russian President Vladimir Putin and expressed concern over the deal and the controversial US embassy move to Jerusalem.

"As you know, our relations with the US are not going through the best period in their history now. You also know that we have stopped all our contacts with the Americans," Abbas told Putin.

"This is connected to the fact that they are trying to carry out the so-called deal of the century, and we think that the first step on the way to that plan was the shifting of the US embassy to Jerusalem."