'We Will Resist It in Every Way': Palestinians Call for World to Reject Anti-Peace Deal Put Forth by Trump and Netanyahu

The so-called "peace deal" authored by White House adviser Jared Kushner was met with protests and condemnation by Palestinians on Tuesday ahead of an expected announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, D.C.

With critics calling it the opposite of a peace plan as well as an effort for both leaders to distract from domestic legal and political scandals, the proposal was set to be unveiled jointly by the two leaders just hours after Netanyahu was formally indictedon corruption charges back home and amid the second week of an impeachment trial against Trump in the U.S. Senate.

Palestinian leaders urged the international community to boycott the plan that the pair are set to unveil, with Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh calling the deal "nothing but a plan to finish off the Palestinian cause."

"This is a plan to protect Trump from impeachment and protect Netanyahu from prison. It is not a Middle East peace plan."
--Mohammad Shtayyeh, Palestinian prime minister"This is a plan to protect Trump from impeachment and protect Netanyahu from prison. It is not a Middle East peace plan," Shtayyeh said. "We reject it and we demand the international community not be a partner."

The deal reportedly will allow Israel to annex large swaths of Palestinian territories, all of contested Jerusalem, and Israeli settlements.

Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman--vocal proponents of Israeli settlements in the West Bank--were largely responsible for drafting the deal, while Palestinian leaders were not invited to the discussions.

Trump said Monday that the deal was "very good for" Palestinians and called it "historic."

"Palestinian freedom isn't for Trump to give away or for Netanyahu to steal," countered Rabbi Alissa Wise, acting co-executive director at Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), on Twitter.

Shtayyeh said the deal "contradicts the basics of international law and inalienable Palestinian rights," and Palestinian leadership threatened to withdraw from the Oslo Accords--in which Israel recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as a party to peace negotiations--over the plan.

At protests on the Gaza Strip, Palestinians held up pictures of Trump and Netanyahu with red marks crossing them out.

"We will not allow this deal to pass and we will resist it in every way in order not to open the way for it, as we consider it as a way to put an end to our national rights," Talal Abu Zarifa, Democratic Front leader, told the Middle East Eye at a demonstration.

On social media, JVP highlighted a number of actions taken by the Trump administration in the past three years to undermine Palestinians' human rights, including cuts to humanitarian aid, endorsing Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem, and claiming Israel has ownership of Golan Heights in Syria.

"We know that no peace can come without justice for Palestinians, and that means building and supporting a broad-based effort that allows for self-determination and equality," tweeted the group. "JVP commits to working towards this future for all in Israel and Palestine."