Palestinians threaten to pull out of Oslo agreement over projected Trump peace plan

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Palestinian Authority officials on Sunday threatened to withdraw from key provisions of the Oslo Accords in protest against the U.S. administration’s projected Mideast peace plan.

From left: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. President Bill Clinton and PLO head Yasser Arafat at the signing of the Oslo Accords on Sept. 13, 1993. Pic: Vince Musi/The White House.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told AFP that the U.S. initiative would turn Israel’s “temporary occupation into a permanent occupation,” and that the P.A. reserved the right “to withdraw from the Interim Agreement” should U.S. President Donald Trump unveil his plan. Also known as Oslo II, the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is a key component of the Oslo accords.

Also on Sunday, the P.A. Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Trump’s long-awaited peace plan, also called the “deal of the century,” is “the plot of the century to liquidate the Palestinian cause.”

The comments were made as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main political rival, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, separately headed to Washington for meetings with Trump ahead of the unveiling of the peace plan, currently set for Tuesday.

The Palestinian leadership was not invited by the White House, having rejected the initiative after the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December 2017. P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas reportedly also refused a phone call by Trump to discuss matters.

On Saturday, Erekat said the Trump plan would go down in history as the “fraud of the century” if it denied that Israel was an “occupying force.”

Gaza-based terror groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have reportedly pledged to reject the deal and work to thwart it.

JNS