Representatives of Palestinian and Lebanese political forces condemned in a joint statement on Monday the US "deal of the century" on the Israeli-Palestinian peace, saying that it aimed to manipulate the naturalization of approximately 5.2 million Palestinian refugees in the Middle East and threatened the territorial integrity of states that host them
BEIRUT (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th June, 2019) Representatives of Palestinian and Lebanese political forces condemned in a joint statement on Monday the US "deal of the century" on the Israeli-Palestinian peace, saying that it aimed to manipulate the naturalization of approximately 5.2 million Palestinian refugees in the Middle East and threatened the territorial integrity of states that host them.The United States is set to release on Tuesday the economic components of its much-anticipated Israeli-Palestinian peace plan at an economic forum in Bahrain. The event has already been boycotted by Lebanon and Palestine, whose leader Mahmoud Abbas has called it the "prosperity instead of peace" plan.
"Arabic states, Muslim peoples and the international community supporting the rights of Palestinians must foresee dangers entailed in this deal, which is being pushed forward by certain states that try to pressure the Palestinian people, its forces and state institutions ... Such actions represent a new attempt to make the region fragmented," the statement read.
The US deal aims to provide Palestinians with economic preferences and financial assistance in exchange of them dropping sovereignty claims over territories in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem, currently occupied by Israel. Instead, the US plan reportedly envisages some parts of the Palestinian state to be established in the Sinai peninsula.
For decades, Palestinians sought recognition of their independent state on the Israeli-occupied territories in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Israeli government has refused to recognize Palestine as an independent political and diplomatic entity and continues to build settlements in the occupied areas, despite objections from the United Nations.
