Hamas: 'All options open' following Trump 'conspiracies' with Israel

Terror group says provisions for Jerusalem are 'nonsense', while Jordan warns against 'annexation of Palestinian lands'; Iran, Turkey blast what they say is one-sided proposal, as Egypt urges both sides to 'carefully study' the plan

News Agencies, Ynet|Updated:
Palestinian terror group Hamas on Tuesday dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump's long-awaited Middle East peace plan as "conspiracies" and warned "all options are open" in response.
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  • "We are certain that our Palestinian people will not let these conspiracies pass. So, all options are open," said senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya.
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    פלסטינים שורפים תמונה של טראמפ ונתניהו ברמאללה
    פלסטינים שורפים תמונה של טראמפ ונתניהו ברמאללה
    Palestinians set fire to images of Netanyahu and Trump during a Gaza protest against the U.S. peace plan
    "The [Israeli] occupation and the U.S. administration will bear the responsibility for what they did," al-Hayya said.
    Across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinians took to the streets to protest the plan.
    Another Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, called Trump's statement as he unveiled the plan aggressive and warned it would "spark a lot of anger." He also slammed the provisions for Jerusalem as "nonsense."
    Under the plan, which Trump announced with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his side and ambassadors for three Gulf states in the attendance, Jerusalem will remain the undivided capital of Israel while its predominantly Arab eastern neighborhoods will form the capital of a Palestinian state.
    "Trump's statement about Jerusalem is nonsense and Jerusalem will always be a land for the Palestinians," Abu Zuhri said. "The Palestinians will confront this deal and Jerusalem will remain a Palestinian land."
    A senior official for Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip Khader Habib called for the Palestinian Authority to retract its recognition of Israel following the presentation of Trump's plan.
    "This is a chance to retract the recognition of Israel," Habib said. "Trump's plan is a chance to restore unity within the Palestinian people."
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    הפגנות בשכם
    הפגנות בשכם
    Palestinians protests against the Trump peace plan in the West Bank city of Nablus
    Meanwhile, Jordan warned in response to the plan against any Israeli "annexation of Palestinian lands" and reaffirmed its commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state along the 1967 lines.
    Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi warned of "the dangerous consequences of unilateral Israeli measures, such as annexation of Palestinian lands."
    Jordan and Egypt are the only two Arab countries to have made peace with Israel.
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    Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
    Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
    Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
    (Photo: AP)
    Cairo on Tuesday urged both sides to "carefully study" the plan.
    The Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday that it favors a solution that restores all the "legitimate rights" of the Palestinian people through establishing an "independent and sovereign state on the occupied Palestinian territories."
    Egypt also said it appreciates the U.S. administration's efforts to try to resolve the decades-old conflict.
    Turkey, however, strongly rejected the U.S. plan, describing it as "an annexation plan that aims to kill the two-state solution and usurp Palestinian lands."
    A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement also rejected Trump's declaration to keep Jerusalem as Israel's undivided capital, saying "Jerusalem is our red line."
    "The United States' so-call peace plan was still-born," the ministry said in a statement. "The Palestinian people and their lands cannot be bought with money."
    The ministry said: "We will not support any plan that is not accepted by Palestine Peace cannot come to the Middle East without an end to the occupation."
    Protests were planned near the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Ankara and Istanbul.

    'Complicit Arab regimes'
    In Lebanon, Iranian-backed Hezbollah denounced what it labeled as "the deal of shame" announced by "the savage Trump administration."
    In a statement issued in Beirut, the militant group described the plan as dangerous, adding that it will have very negative repercussions on the future of the region and its people.
    It said the U.S. has capped decades of blind support for Israel, its occupation and aggression against Arabs by trying to eliminate the historical and legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
    "This deal would not have taken place had it not been for the complicity and betrayal of a number of Arab regimes, secretly and publicly involved in this conspiracy, " it added, in a reference to Gulf Arab countries.
    The statement said the deal "confirms that resistance is the only option" to liberate occupied land.
    Hesamodin Ashena, a senior adviser to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the plan one-sided, writing on Twitter that it was solely a deal between the United States and Israel.
    He dismissed the proposal as one of "imposition and sanctions".
    "This is a deal between the Zionist regime [Israel] and America. Interaction with Palestinians is not on its agenda. This is not a peace plan but a plan of imposition and sanctions," Ashena tweeted.
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    הבית הלבן
    הבית הלבן
    Donald Trump unveils his peace plan with Benjamin Netanyahu by his side
    (Photo: AP)
    Trump acknowledged that he has done a lot for Israel, but he said he wanted the deal to be a "great deal for the Palestinians."
    He said the deal is a "historic opportunity" for Palestinians to achieve an independent state of their own.
    The plan more than doubles the territory currently under Palestinian control, although it also recognizes Israeli sovereignty over major settlement blocs in the West Bank, something to which the Palestinians will almost certainly object.
    The Palestinians have already rejected the proposal, accusing Trump of being biased in favor of Israel as he has adopted policies that bolster Israel at their expense.
    Diab Al-Louh, the Palestinians' ambassador to Egypt, said on Tuesday they had requested an urgent meeting of the Arab League Council at the ministerial level - which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would attend.
    In the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Tuesday, protesters waved Palestinian flags and held aloft posters of Abbas. "Trump is a fool, Palestine is not for sale!" an activist shouted through a loudspeaker.
    Chief Palestinian envoy to Britain Husam Zomlot said earlier Tuesday that the plan effectively gives a green light to Israel to establish an apartheid state.
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    Husam Zomlot
    Husam Zomlot
    Palestinain envoy to the UK Husam Zomlot
    (Photo: AP)
    "This is a political circus, it's a sad piece of political theater," said Zomlot, who previously served as head of the Palestinian mission to Washington and as strategic adviser to Abbas.
    First published: 20:25, 01.28.20
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