In a speech on Tuesday to the U.N. Security Council, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas expressed contempt towards the Trump administration’s peace plan, saying it is filled with holes and comparing it to “Swiss cheese.”
“This plan should not be considered an international reference for negotiations,” he said. “It is an Israeli-American preemptive plan to put an end to the question of Palestine.”
The Trump peace plan, released on Jan. 28, recognizes a demilitarized Palestinian state with its capital in eastern Jerusalem “located in all areas east and north of the existing security barrier, including Kafr Aqab, the eastern part of Shuafat and Abu Dis, and could be named Al-Quds or another name as determined by the State of Palestine,” with a future U.S. embassy there.
“This plan violates international legitimacy. … It annuls the legitimacy of Palestinian rights, our right to self-determination, freedom and independence of our own state,” said Abbas in his Tuesday address, which consisted of him holding up maps that falsely claim that Israel stole land.