Abbas Calls for Escalating Response Against Peace Plan

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called on Monday for an escalation of the Palestinian response to President Donald Trump’s Mideast peace plan, Ynet reported.

Abbas told a closed-door meeting of Fatah that “We need to escalate our response on all fronts, to recruit the youth,” and put the entire people “on emergency alert in the coming days.”

He said that he instructed the PA security forces not to interfere with protests against the plan. “We’re going towards very difficult days. I’ve given the security forces an order not to interfere with any form of protest and not to arrive at the conflict zones.”

Abbas called President Trump “a snake, a dog…a violent man who wants to force us into a program we’re not interested in.

“The situation won’t remain as it was. I won’t be a traitor…He won’t threaten me. In the time I have left to live, I won’t be a traitor. I said no to the Deal of the Century – and I will continue to say no. I have refused to talk to him and I’ll bear the consequences, no matter what they may be,” added Abbas.

PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh on Monday urged international powers to boycott the peace plan, which Trump said will be revealed in detail on Tuesday.

“This a plan to protect Trump from impeachment and protect Netanyahu from prison. It is not a Middle East peace plan,” Shtayyeh told a cabinet meeting.

“This plan gives Israel sovereignty over Palestinian territory,” he said.