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Erekat: US preparing to establish separate state in Gaza

March 16, 2018 at 9:51 am

Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat [Issam Rimawi/Apaimages]

The United States is preparing to establish a separate Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip, the Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Saeb Erekat, warned yesterday.

During a meeting with a number of international officials at his office in Jericho, Erekat criticised the conference held at the White House on Tuesday to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and ways to alleviate it.

“The US’ response to the situation in Gaza is not more than a prelude to transfer Israel’s responsibility for the Gaza Strip to other parties,” Erekat said.

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The top Palestinian Authority official added “this paves the way for the State of Gaza as part of the US President Donald Trump’s deal which aims to exclude the issues of Jerusalem and refugees from the negotiations table.”

Nineteen countries attended the conference held in the White House to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, they included Israel and some Arab states; there were no Palestinian representatives at the event.