US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that if the Palestinian Arabs do not like the Trump administration’s “Deal of the Century”, they are welcome to present an offer of their own.
“The Palestinian people have an enormous opportunity for a better life for the Palestinian people. And I watched the Palestinian leadership yesterday. They called for a day of rage, and we called for diplomacy to sit down at the table and have a negotiated resolution to a longstanding conflict. This plan provides for real security, and it reflects the reality on the ground for the Israelis, and it reflects an enormous opportunity – $50 billion, and the Palestinian leadership called for a day of rage,” Pompeo told reporters.
He added that “we are truly confident that this is a plan that is good for everyone – every Israeli and every Palestinian. And they’re free to come up – they now have an offer on the table. They are free to come up with a counter offer, if that’s what they think is appropriate. We’d look forward to that. We’re prepared to listen, and I know the Israelis will be prepared to sit down and negotiate on the basis of the vision that the President laid out.”
“This is the most detailed plan ever presented,” continued Pompeo. “It’s the first time the Israelis have ever conceded to a map that actually lays down real outlines of what this will look like and what this means, and it provides a clear pathway for a Palestinian state. This is a real vision. We hope that all the parties – all the Palestinian people both in the West Bank and in Gaza – will consider it thoughtfully and move forward on this basis.”
The Secretary of State rejected suggestions that the peace plan was dead on arrival, noting that regional partners – including the ambassadors from Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates – were in the room on Tuesday as President Donald Trump unveiled the plan.
Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas immediately rejected Trump’s peace plan and said it would be relegated to the "dustbin of history."
The peace plan Abbas rejected called for the creation of a Palestinian state with part of eastern Jerusalem as its capital. The PA would receive land in southern Israel as part of a land swap for areas to which Israel would apply sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.
Meanwhile, protests against the deal took place in Ramallah, where rioters burned pictures of Trump and shouted that he was a "dog".