Palestinian president rejects Trump’s plan to take over Gaza

ANKARA

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected on Wednesday US President Donald Trump’s proposal to take over the Gaza Strip and resettle Palestinians elsewhere.

"We will not allow the rights of our people, for which we have struggled for decades, to be infringed upon,” Abbas said in a statement.

“These calls represent a serious violation of international law, and peace and stability in the region will not be achieved without the establishment of the Palestinian state," he added.

Trump said during a press conference in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Tuesday that the US “will take over” Gaza after relocating Palestinians elsewhere under an extraordinary redevelopment plan that he claimed could turn the enclave into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

Abbas stressed that the Gaza Strip “is an integral part of the Palestinian land" alongside the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

“The legitimate Palestinian rights are non-negotiable,” he added.

“No one has the right to make decisions on the future of the Palestinian people except the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the official and legitimate representative body of the Palestinian people,” Abbas said.

The Palestinian leader urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Security Council to assume their responsibilities to enforce international resolutions and protect the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.

Trump triggered uproar on Jan. 25 by suggesting that Palestinians in Gaza should be relocated to Jordan and Egypt, calling the enclave a “demolition site” after Israel’s war. His proposal, however, was vehemently rejected by Amman and Cairo.

A six-nation Arab ministerial meeting in Cairo on Saturday firmly rejected Palestinian displacement from Gaza and renewed calls for implementing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trump’s proposal came after a ceasefire agreement took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, suspending Israel’s genocidal war that has killed more than 47,500 Palestinians and left the enclave in ruins.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in November last year for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.