Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Abu Rudeineh said that Arab efforts exerted by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, have foiled the so-called “Century Deal”.
He noted that the Arab stance was committed to the Arab Peace Initiative, which calls for Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in return for the normalization of Arab-Israeli relations.
“Free normalization is unacceptable and rejected. The Arab peace initiative is a red line,” Abu Rudeineh said during a meeting with a limited number of Egyptian thinkers and writers in Cairo on Thursday.
“The US Administration received a very important and strong message from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and the Jordanian monarch about their adherence to the two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital…”, the Palestinian Information minister stated.
He explained that relations between the Palestinian Authority and the US have deteriorated because of the latter’s insistence on removing the issues of Jerusalem and refugees from the negotiations.
Abu Rudeineh also discussed the difficult financial situation faced by the government as a result of the Israeli decision to deduct the money transferred by the PA to the families of prisoners and martyrs.
He stressed in this regard that the leadership would continue to pay the salaries of prisoners and families of the martyrs in full “even if only one penny remains with the Palestinian National Authority.” With regard to the file of Palestinian reconciliation, he said that the PA was fully committed to the agreement signed jointly signed with Hamas in 2017.
“We are fully prepared to implement it in the event Hamas declared its commitment to it under Egyptian guarantees,” he emphasized.
