PA PM: ‘Deal of the century to be born dead’

Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh yesterday reiterated that the US’ “deal of the century” will be born dead and there would be no partners for the deal, Arab48 reported.

Shtayyeh said he has put in place plans to overcome the financial crisis he inherited from his predecessor, adding that he expects the international community to boycott the so-called “deal of the century”.

Speaking to AP, Shtayyeh said: “There are no partners in Palestine for Trump. There are no Arab partners for Trump and there are no European partners for Trump.”

“Israel is part of the financial war that has been declared upon us by the United States. The whole system is to try to push us to surrender” and agree to an unacceptable peace proposal, Shtayyeh said. “This a financial blackmail, which we reject.”

Since US President Donald Trump was elected he has cut funding to the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian hospitals and UNRWA which provides vital services for Palestine refugees. He has also unilaterally declared Jerusalem the undivided capital of Israel and recognised Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

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Reports also emerged of a secret American report stated that there are only 40,000 Palestinian refugees, noting they are the Palestinians who left their home land in 1948 and remain alive today and not their descendants.

US President Donald Trump’s senior advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is reported to have tried to pressure Jordan to strip more than two million Palestinians of refugee status in a move that aims to end the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

These measure are said to be steps through which the US plans to force Palestinians to accept any peace plan it introduces.

However Shtayyeh tols AP: “The Palestinians are not interested in economic peace … We are interested in ending the occupation… It is impossible to enjoy life under occupation.”