Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said "a thousand no's" Tuesday to the Mideast peace plan announced by President Donald Trump, which strongly favors Israel.
"After the nonsense that we heard today we say a thousand no's to the deal of the century," Abbas said at a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where the Western-backed Palestinian Authority is headquartered.
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in speech following peace plan reveal
(Photo: Reuters)
He said the Palestinians remain committed to ending the Israeli occupation and establishing a state with its capital in East Jerusalem.
"We will not kneel and we will not surrender," Abbas said, adding that the Palestinians would resist the plan through "peaceful, popular means."
The 84-year-old added that his people's rights "are not for sale."
"I say to Trump and Netanyahu: Jerusalem is not for sale, all our rights are not for sale and are not for bargain. And your deal, the conspiracy, will not pass," Abbas said.
Abbas then joined the Hamas terror organization in calling the peace plan a "conspiracy." The militant group ruling Gaza earlier said the Palestinian people "will not let these conspiracies pass. So, all options are open. The (Israeli) occupation and the U.S. administration will bear the responsibility for what they did," senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said.
The plan would create a Palestinian state in parts of the West Bank, but would allow Israel to annex nearly all of its settlements in the territory. The plan would allow the Palestinians to establish a capital on the outskirts of East Jerusalem but would leave most of the city under Israeli control.