Palestinians plan ‘popular uprising’ against Trump proposal

The Palestinians are planning to hold a “popular uprising” later this month to protest against US President Donald Trump’s controversial "deal of the century".

The protests are scheduled to take place on June 25-26 in conjunction with the US-led conference in Bahrain – where the first part of Trump’s so-called “peace plan” which is spearheaded by his son-in-law Jared Kushner, will be unveiled.

The call for the “popular uprising” was made by representatives of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) factions, Palestinian civil society organizations and independent Palestinian figures on Sunday after a meeting in the occupied West Bank city of el-Bireh.

Wasel Abu Yusef, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, said the Palestinians need to engage in “struggling action to foil the ‘deal of the century’ and its economic aspect, and voice their rejection of all American policies.”

Abu Yusef noted that Sunday’s meeting was the first in a series of gatherings to arrange “popular activities to confront American-Israeli schemes aimed at eliminating the rights of the Palestinian people.”

He urged Arab nations to boycott the Bahrain conference “because the rights of the Palestinian people can’t be traded for money.”

Late last month, the PLO affirmed its final opposition to the conference and called on the international community to boycott the workshop.

PressTV-Palestinians urge global boycott of US conf. in Bahrain

The Palestine Liberation Organization has called on world nations to boycott a forthcoming US-sponsored economic conference in Bahrain.

Another senior PLO official, Tayseer Khaled, stressed the need to “change the rules of engagement with the policies of the US administration” and the Israeli regime.

He cited “the big changes in the policy of the US administration and its unprecedented and unlimited support for Israel’s hostile settlement policy and absolute denial of the national rights of the Palestinian people.”

Khaled also called for a “comprehensive national revolt” against Israel.

Palestine to drag US envoy before ICC

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority plans to file a complaint with the International Criminal (ICC) against US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman for “jeopardizing peace and security in the Middle East” with his recent “racist” remarks.

Speaking in an interview with The New York Times, Friedman said that Israel “has the right” to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.

“Under certain circumstances, I think that Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank,” he said in the interview published on Saturday.

PressTV-Israel has right to annex West Bank: US envoy

The US ambassador to Israel says Tel Aviv has right to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.

“Friedman’s remarks are an extension of the US administration’s policy, which is fully biased in favor of the occupation and its expansionist colonial policies,” the Palestinian foreign ninistry said on Sunday.

Denouncing him as a settler, the ministry said, “We are studying whether his racist rhetoric is sufficient to file a complaint against him with the International Criminal Court for trying to impose his racist visions and threatening peace and security in the region, as well as exposing the Palestinian people to several dangers and conspiracies.”

Friedman's statements sparked widespread condemnation from several Palestinian officials and groups.

Ibrahim Milhem, spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, slammed Friedman and US President Donald Trump’s advisers, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, as “clowns and circus actors lacking political maturity.”

Trump’s ambassador “provides enough background in order for everyone not to attend the Manama meeting,” PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat said. “Their vision is about annexation of occupied territory, a war crime under international law.”

The Hamas resistance movement also decried the remarks, calling on the Palestinian Authority to immediately halt security coordination with Israel in the West Bank.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said Friedman’s remarks are “completely consistent with the views of the far-right in Israel and demonstrate the US administration’s disregard for all Arab positions.”

They “reflect the depth of American complicity in the aggression against the Palestinians,” he added.

Daoud Shehab, a spokesman for Palestinian resistance movement Islamic Jihad, condemned the US envoy as an “extremist settler carrying out the colonialist and settler policies of his bosses.”

Relations between the Palestinian Authority and the US took an unprecedented dip in late 2017, when Washington recognized Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s “capital.”

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital. However, Israel insists on maintaining the occupation of Palestinian territories.

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