Palestinian president vows to thwart Trump peace plan

Abbas compared the expected Trump proposal to the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which saw the British government commit to the creation of a state for Jews in historic Palestine.

"If the Balfour Declaration passed, this deal will not pass," he pledged.

That's dangerously close to saying Israel doesn't have a right to exist. Of course, I've always believed this to be Palestinians' ultimate goal.

The Palestinian leader also renewed his support for salaries for families of Palestinians killed or jailed by Israel.

This is completely unacceptable.

Palestinians vow to thwart peace plan - nothing new here.

Is it a peace plan if the Palestinians end up with the short end of the stick

Guess we'll see once the plan is revealed finally

The Palestinian leadership has never wanted peace, they have too much invested in stiring up hate to justify their own careers and in their profitable “victim hood” which extracts a lot o money from the naive and foolish.

Their stated position is that Israel should not exist, what a basis for negotiating peace!

A good start to a peace treaty would be for Israel to cease forceful evictions, bulldozing Palestinians homes and thier continuing land grab.

Also, how about Israel abiding by U.N. resolutions demanding withdrawal from occupied territories?

Israel has never wanted a Palestinian state and all their actions over decades have ensured that Palestine has never been created. Stealing lands regularly, enlarging illegal settlements, shooting stone throwing youths, creating a ghetto of Gaza, the list goes on and on. Blame the victims (Palestinians) has been Israels tactics.

Israel could ensure a lasting peace if it really wanted it. It seems it is in Israels best interest to not have peace as this allows it a large range of actions not possible under a peace agreement.

What much of the world doesn't realize is that Israel's underlying motivation is mistaken interpretations of Biblical passages in thinking that it has a divine right to the same geographical land that it occupied in it's heyday under King David 3,000 years ago. Israel will never stop grabbing land until it gets all of that land, the so called 'Promised Land' or Eretz Israel, and either evicts or subjugates anyone else who happens to be there.

A Palestinian peace plan? A Trump peace plan? That's really funny.

If Trump ever comes up with a peace plan, he should try it at home first before trying it abroad.

Don't blame him. The Palestinian people have been betrayed by the US for generations.

The Palestinian leadership has never wanted peace, they have too much invested in stiring up hate to justify their own careers and in their profitable “victim hood” which extracts a lot o money from the naive and foolish.

Their stated position is that Israel should not exist, what a basis for negotiating peace!

Bingo and as long as the Palestinians don’t try to advocate for peace of the Hamas led Gaza refuse to recognize the Jewish States, the Palestinians will never get what they want, it will never happen.

Unfortunately, President Trump has been deceived by his evangelical Christian supporters to also believe that Israel has a divine right to the land. Hard to understand why otherwise sincere Christians would support land grabbing, oppression and brutal occupation. Jesus Himself would never condone it.

If only everyone involved would sacrifice some of their insistence on certain conditions in order to achieve a fair and just agreement.

Unfortunately, President Trump has been deceived by his evangelical Christian supporters to also believe that Israel has a divine right to the land. Hard to understand why otherwise sincere Christians would support land grabbing, oppression and brutal occupation. Jesus Himself would never condone it.

That would depend on your definition of land grab, you can’t take what wasn’t yours to begin with, that’s the flip side to your argument.

If only everyone involved would sacrifice some of their insistence on certain conditions in order to achieve a fair and just agreement.

I agree, but BOTH sides need to come together, but as long as there’s no recognition of the Jewish State, it won’t happen.

bass4funk:

you can’t take what wasn’t yours to begin with

Israel took what was not theirs to begin with. They had not occupied the land for 2000 years until the Balfour declaration of 1917, further land grabs via UN partition in 1948, by military force in 1967 and 1973 and forced evictions since. Thus Palestine was forcefully converted into Israel. This is the original cause of this conflict.

How would any of us enjoy being dispossessed of our country by a group of people who had not lived there for millenniums? Or how about our home? "Sorry buddy. My ancient ancestors lived on this plot of land 2000 years ago, Move out!"

That comment sounds to have a bit of racist undertone to it....

Absolutely no racism intended whatsoever. Just stating a fact. (It seems one cannot crticize Israel or the Jewish lobby without being labelled an anti-Semite or racist. Their favorite tactic to deflect criticism.)

I agree, but BOTH sides need to come together, but as long as there’s no recognition of the Jewish State, it won’t happen.

Agreed. Withdrawal from territories outside 1948 UN partition and mutual recognition seems fair at this stage

Israel took what was not theirs to begin with.

Some may look at it like that and others don’t.

They had not occupied the land for 2000 years until the Balfour declaration of 1917, further land grabs via UN partition in 1948,

There you go, they came back to the land that was theirs to begin with.

How would any of us enjoy being dispossessed of our country by a group of people who had not lived there for millenniums?

If it were there’s to begin with, the ONLY Jewish nation and the people that were torn and run out of their land, so I look at it from the perspective, you kicked me grandparents of of their house and land and now I’m coming back to reclaim what was taken and used by the occupiers.

Or how about our home? "Sorry buddy. My ancient ancestors lived on this plot of land 2000 years ago, Move out!"

Sadly, but yes. But that’s how I see it, but others might not, I get it, but as I have said before, if the Palestinians want peace, they can go about it by making the first step to acknowledge and recognizing the Jewish nation first and then go on from there.

CC; Jews and Arabs both lived on the land for centuries. In the wake of WW2, the decision was made (supported by the UN) to partition it into two states- Israel and Jordan (for Arab/Palestinians). The surrounding Arab countries didn't agree, and tried to exterminate Israel. The Palestinians were encouraged to evacuate, so that the conquering Arab League armies could seamlessly kill all the Jews.

It didn't work out well, Israel instead won the war and the right to the land. Since then, myriad attempts to exterminate them have failed. The Palestinians tragically have suffered greatly, mostly at the hands of their Muslim "brothers", who refuse them citizenship in their countries and feed them false promises of revenge.

So now in 2018 we are still trying to settle the issue. Multigenerational refugee status is unheard of, except for Palestinians. They need to be resettled in Muslim countries, especially those who have kept them trapped in political and economic limbo for decades.

The Palestinians were in the Occupied Territories long before the Israeli's grabbed that land.

@attilathehungry

Thanks, I know the entire history, but I just fundamentally disagree with you, had this conversation hundreds of time with for against and we with all due respect we should just agree to disagree, I won’t see the issue your want and you won’t see it my way, however, as it is now the Jewish State, how do we move forward and what do thr Palestinains want, of they don’t want to recognize the Jewsish State, there will be no next step.

Thats just the reality, so I just wonder what the Palestinians want to do.

The U.S. Jewish lobby puts pressure on U.S. administrations to back Israel's land grabbing, occupation and refusal to return stolen lands. Thus they are partly responsible for Abbas not to trust any U.S, proposed peace deal.

bass4funk:

By this logic then, you and Israel should have no problem ceding the land back to the Palestinians whose ancestors, the Philistines and Canaanites, occupied the land for millenniums before the Israelites forcibly removed them around 1400 BC.

The U.S. Jewish lobby puts pressure on U.S. administrations to back Israel's land grabbing, occupation and refusal to return stolen lands. Thus they are partly responsible for Abbas not to trust any U.S, proposed peace deal.

As I said, I understand your position, but I vehemently disagree with you, but since the nation of Israel exists and that’s that, what will the Palestinians do? How will they go forward, what’s their idea to have peace?

There's a plan?

Seriously?

Their stated position is that Israel should not exist, what a basis for negotiating peace!

Abbas has always supported the two-state solution, and so presumably the position that Israel should exist.

"Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas"

The dude is 83 years old. Shouldn't he retire and let someone younger and more open minded succeed him?

The palestinians reject peace - Newsflash.

bass4funk:

what will the Palestinians do? How will they go forward, what’s their idea to have peace?

How about Israeli withdrawal from territories outside the 1948 UN partition and mutual recognition of statehood?

The palestinians reject peace - Newsflash.

I agree.

They had not occupied the land for 2000 years until the Balfour declaration of 1917, further land grabs via UN partition in 1948, 

There you go, they came back to the land that was theirs to begin with.

By that rationale you must support the return of all of the Americas to their original inhabitants, under the supervision of a universal body such as the U.N.

Otherwise, point out the differences.

It pays to remember that the palestine the jews immigrated to was desert and rock. It was the jews who broke their backs irrigating the land and building the infrastructure you see today. Hand it over to the palestinians and youd see how quickly it returned to desert.

they came back to the land that was theirs to begin with.

Two thousand years ago I'm sure I must have had ancestors who came to Britannium from Roma. Maybe I should go and demand huge swathes of land in Italy that was mine to begin with.

By that rationale you must support the return of all of the Americas to their original inhabitants

Except then we get all the b4fs coming back to Europe with their weird ideas and non sequiturs, throwing their weight around....

And after the palestinians let the land return to desert through neglect, three guesses who theyd blame.

It was the jews who broke their backs irrigating the land and building the infrastructure you see today. Hand it over to the palestinians and youd see how quickly it returned to desert.

So you’re saying the Palestinians are lazy and inept and therefore undeserving of the land that is their home.

Cleo

Strawman.

The Palestinians don't want peace.  The Palestinians don't want a two-state solution. The Palestinians still  demand an end to the nation of Israel.