[WATCH] Trump’s Palestine plan destroyed all hope of peace in the region, state representatives say

Trump’s Palestine plan destroyed all hope of peace in the region, state representatives say

Palestinian music pumped out of speakers at City Gate on Saturday afternoon as people manning information stands handed out flyers and engaged with the public on a one-to-one basis.

Moviment Graffitti organised the two-day initiative in Valletta, starting on Friday, through which it is attempting to raise awareness about the “peace plan” recently announced by US President Donald Trump for Palestine.

The movement had described the plan, dubbed by Trump supporters as the “deal of the century,” as “profoundly unjust and completely unacceptable.”

The two-day event was addressed by Fadi Hanania, Ambassador of the State of Palestine to the Republic of Malta, representatives of the Palestinian community in Malta and representatives of Maltese organisations active in this field.

The proposed deal was a simply a “business deal which doesn’t respect the rights of the Palestinian people,” Hanaina said. The plan endorsed the illegal annexation of occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank and paved the way to annex all the settlements in defiance of the UN Charter and UN resolutions. “We view accepting this dangerous proposal as tantamount to endorsement of a new and lawless era in international politics where aggression and annexation are normalised.”

The plan had “no basis for dialogue as it contained all the elements of perpetual conflict, oppression and injustice,” said the ambassador.

Moviment Graffiti’s Andre Callus said the deal was an insult which would not bring peace or justice to the region. “It is madness to expect Palestinians to live on a tiny portion of land, surrounded by Israel and with no power at all.

 “Deal of the Century” or “Fraud of the Century”?

Trump’s 181-page plan, complete with conceptual maps, proposed land transfers, and economic incentives, touched on a number of the critical issues which have fuelled the Israeli Palestinian conflict for decades.

Borders, settlements, refugees, and the status of Jerusalem are all mentioned in the plan, which Trump described as a “win-win” situation for both parties.

The Israeli government is ready to implement the plan at once, but the Palestinians are refusing to engage with what they are calling the “fraud of the century.”

Trump’s plan suggests that Jerusalem be “undivided as the sovereign capital of the State of Israel,” with a Palestinian capital in “eastern Jerusalem,” on the outer edges of the city beyond Israel’s security barrier, while guaranteeing Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem.

It also envisages a West Bank full of interconnected chunks of Israeli territory containing Jewish settlements, surrounded by Palestinian lands. For the Palestinians, it would mean giving up a claim to large amounts of West Bank land — including places where Israel has built settlements over the past half-century and strategic areas along the Jordanian border. The settlements are widely viewed as illegal by the international community.

The framework also sets aside the longtime goal of a fully autonomous Palestinian state in favour of a vague promise that Palestinians could “achieve an independent state of their very own.”

The deal provides for a four-year window for the parties to engage in renewed settlement talks. During that time, Israel would cease constructing settlements in those parts of the West Bank that the plan has designated for Palestinians.