A top Palestinian official has told Sky News that Donald Trump's plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians is a clear endorsement by the White House for the creation of an apartheid system.

The secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, Saeb Erekat, said that the US president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's so-called "deal of the century" is a clear attempt to kill off the Oslo peace accords.

He said: "Dictating unilateralism doesn't work. Never worked. Will never work. He is asking me to accept to live as a third or fourth-class citizen.

Is Trump's 'deal of the century' dead on arrival?

"Under the boots of the Israeli occupiers and settlers. This will never happen, and Palestinians will never die standing on lines."

Dr Erekat, who was the Palestinian's chief negotiator for the original Oslo peace talks, said that his people would never accept Mr Trump's plan.


"Annexation of illegal settlements, big and small. A plan that says they will control my airspace, water, passages.

"A plan that specifies the elements of apartheid. And you are asking me is there anything that I can live with? I am living it. I have been living this since 1967."

Fresh from a meeting with EU and British diplomats, he appeared angry, blunt but determined.

He had watched the White House announcement from the offices of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

Image: Current situation in Israel

Image: Trump plan for Israel

The Palestinians were not consulted on the Trump plans. As he sees it, they have been cut out of their own future by a plan he claimed wasn't really written by the Trump White House team.

"The American peace team did not write one single comma or word. This is the plan of Netanyahu and the Settlers Council," he said - referring to the Israeli prime minister and hard-line Jewish settlers.

At the White House unveiling of the plan, there were ambassadors from Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Traditionally they have been staunch sympathisers of the Palestinian cause.

Image: Saeb Erekat spoke to Sky's Mark Stone

Dr Erekat didn't accept that their presence and closer relations with Israel amounted to the abandonment of the Palestinian plight.

"No. I don't think there are supporting Israel over my cause. I think they committed a mistake by going to this meeting," he said.

Asked why counties like Britain appeared open to the Trump plan, he said that UK officials have assured him that Britain still supports the original "two state" solution.

He accepted that the Palestinian side had made mistakes over the years, adding: "I am not saying we are void of mistakes. I am not. We are normal people like you in Britain; like anybody else on Earth. But consistently speaking if you look at the side that made concessions for peace, we recognised Israel right to exist: the peace and security in 78 percent of historical British Mandated Palestine. Israel did not recognise us."

Commenting on the tone stuck by Israeli Prime Minister at the White House, he said: "You saw his smile yesterday. He buried [the] Oslo [peace accords]. But we will stop him. For the sake of Israelis and Palestinians. I don't want my grandchildren to live and die by the sword. That's my full fight. I want them to live like your children and your grandchildren."