Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo, Egypt to discuss US President Donald Trump's plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which was formally announced last week, have rejected the proposal.

In a communique, the Arab League said it would not cooperate with the US to execute the plan because it "does not meet the minimum rights and aspirations of Palestinian people."

The pan-Arab bloc also said Israel should not implement the initiative by force.

The meeting at the Arab League headquarters came at the request of the Palestinians.

"The plan leads to a status that amounts to a one-state situation that comprises two classes of citizens, that is apartheid, in which the Palestinians will be second-class citizens, deprived of the basic rights of citizenship," Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in Cairo.

Read more: An Israeli-Palestinian peace plan without the Palestinians?

Trump's long-awaited proposal for Israeli-Palestinian peace would allow Israel to annex all its West Bank settlements, something that the Palestinians and most of the international community view as illegal.

It also allows for the annexation of the Jordan Valley, which accounts for roughly a quarter of the West Bank.

Palestinians would be granted statehood in Gaza, scattered chunks of the West Bank and some neighborhoods on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The US has proposed to link these Palestinian sections through new network of roads, bridges and tunnels, while letting Israel control the state's borders and airspace, as well as maintain overall security authority.

Read more: Jared Kushner's plan for Palestinians: What's (not) in it?

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‘A thousand no's'

President Mahmoud Abbas, who attended the gathering in Cairo, said he remained committed to ending the Israeli occupation and establishing a Palestinian state with its capital in east Jerusalem.

"I will not have it recorded in my history that I have sold Jerusalem," he said, adding that he would cut security ties with the US and Israel.

Abbas said earlier that his response to Trump's proposal was "a thousand no's."

Diplomatic adviser to Abbas, Majdi al-Khaldi, had said the Cairo meeting's goal would be to issue a "clear declaration'' rejecting the deal.

Previously, the Palestinian leader was set to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi to discuss measures to "protect the Palestinian people's rights,'' al-Khaldi added.

Read more: Opinion: Trump's Middle East 'peace plan' delivers neither

Saudi Arabia and Egypt — close allies of the US — have maintained a neutral position on the plan, saying they appreciated Trump's efforts and calling for renewed negotiations.

But Jordan, who has a peace treaty with Israel, warned against any Israeli "annexation of Palestinian lands'' and reaffirmed its commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state that included all the West Bank and Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

jcg/aw (AP, Reuters)

A history of the Middle East peace process UN Security Council Resolution 242, 1967 United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, passed on November 22, 1967, called for the exchange of land for peace. Since then, many of the attempts to establish peace in the region have referred to 242. The resolution was written in accordance with Chapter VI of the UN Charter, under which resolutions are recommendations, not orders.

A history of the Middle East peace process Camp David Accords, 1978 A coalition of Arab states, led by Egypt and Syria, fought Israel in the Yom Kippur or October War in October 1973. The conflict eventually led to the secret peace talks that yielded two agreements after 12 days. This picture from March 26, 1979, shows Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, his US counterpart Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin after signing the accords in Washington.

A history of the Middle East peace process The Madrid Conference, 1991 The US and the former Soviet Union came together to organize a conference in the Spanish capital city of Madrid. The discussions involved Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestinians — not from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) — who met with Israeli negotiators for the first time. While the conference achieved little, it did create the framework for later, more productive talks.

A history of the Middle East peace process Oslo I Accord, 1993 The negotiations in Norway between Israel and the PLO, the first direct meeting between the two parties, resulted in the the Oslo I Accord. The agreement was signed in the US in September 1993. It demanded that Israeli troops withdraw from West Bank and Gaza and a self-governing, interim Palestinian authority be set up for a five-year transitional period. A second accord was signed in 1995.

A history of the Middle East peace process Camp David Summit Meeting, 2000 US President Bill Clinton invited Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat to the retreat in July 2000 to discuss borders, security, settlements, refugees and Jerusalem. Despite the negotiations being more detailed than ever before, no agreement was concluded. The failure to reach a consensus at Camp David was followed by renewed Palestinian uprising, the Second Intifada.

A history of the Middle East peace process The Arab Peace Initiative, 2002 The Camp David negotiations were followed first by meetings in Washington and then in Cairo and Taba, Egypt — all without results. Later the Arab League proposed the Arab Peace Initiative in Beirut in March 2002. The plan called on Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 borders so that a Palestinian state could be set up in the West Bank and Gaza. In return, Arab countries would agree to recognize Israel.

A history of the Middle East peace process The Roadmap, 2003 The US, EU, Russia and the UN worked together as the Middle East Quartet to develop a road map to peace. While Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas accepted the text, his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon had more reservations with the wording. The timetable called for a final agreement on a two-state solution to be reached in 2005. Unfortunately, it was never implemented.

A history of the Middle East peace process Annapolis, 2007 In 2007 US President George W. Bush hosted a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, to relaunch the peace process. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas took part in talks with officials from the Quartet and over a dozen Arab states. It was agreed that further negotiations would be held with the goal of reaching a peace deal by the end of 2008.

A history of the Middle East peace process Washington, 2010 In 2010, US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell convinced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to and implement a ten-month moratorium on settlements in disputed territories. Later, Netanyahu and Abbas agreed to relaunch direct negotiations to resolve all issues. Negotiations began in Washington in September 2010, but within weeks there was a deadlock.

A history of the Middle East peace process Cycle of escalation and ceasefire continues A new round of violence broke out in and around Gaza late 2012. A ceasefire was reached between Israel and those in power in the Gaza Strip, which held until June 2014. The kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in June 2014 resulted in renewed violence and eventually led to the Israeli military operation Protective Edge. It ended with a ceasefire on August 26, 2014.

A history of the Middle East peace process Paris summit, 2017 Envoys from over 70 countries gathered in Paris, France, to discuss the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Netanyahu slammed the discussions as "rigged" against his country. Neither Israeli nor Palestinian representatives attended the summit. "A two-state solution is the only possible one," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said at the opening of the event.

A history of the Middle East peace process Deteriorating relations in 2017 Despite the year's optimistic opening, 2017 brought further stagnation in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. A deadly summer attack on Israeli police at the Temple Mount, a site holy to both Jews and Muslims, sparked deadly clashes. Then US President Donald Trump's plan to move the embassy to Jerusalem prompted Palestinian leader Abbas to say "the measures ... undermine all peace efforts."

A history of the Middle East peace process Trump's peace plan backfires, 2020 US President Donald Trump presented a peace plan that freezes Israeli settlement construction but retains Israeli control over most of the illegal settlements it has already built. The plan would double Palestinian-controlled territory, but asks Palestine to cross a red line and accept the previously constructed West Bank settlements as Israeli territory. Palestine rejected the plan outright. Author: Aasim Saleem



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