Palestine accuses U.S. new peace plan of denying Israeli occupation

A senior Palestinian official accused on Saturday the U.S. new peace plan, better known as the "Deal of the Century," of denying the existence of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Saeb Erekat, secretary general of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee said in a press statement that denying the existence of the Israeli occupation makes the new U.S. plan as the "Fraud of the Century."

He accused U.S. President Donald Trump of being a full partner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "who worked jointly on this Fraud of the Century that contradicts with the international law and the references of peace."

The U.S. administration invited Netanyahu and Israeli opposition leader Benny Gants to visit Washington next week to discuss the details of the new peace plan, which has been already rejected by the Palestinians.

After the U.S.-sponsored peace talks between Israel and Palestine stopped in 2014, the Palestinians have been calling for an international mechanism to sponsor the peace talks instead of the U.S..

Political ties between the Palestinian Authority and the U.S. administration had been severed since the declaration of President Trump in 2017, that Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Israel.

The Palestinians want the eastern part of the city, which was occupied by Israel in 1967, to be the capital of their Palestinian state.

(CGTN)