Cairo: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas threatened to cut security ties with both Israel and the United States on Saturday. He was delivering a lengthy speech at an Arab League meeting in Egypt's capital that denounced a White House plan for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The plan, dubbed as Trump's 'Middle East Peace Plan' would grant the Palestinians limited self-rule in parts of the occupied West Bank, while allowing Israel to annex all its settlements there and keep nearly all of east Jerusalem.
The summit of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo was requested by Palestinians, who responded angrily to the American proposal. Abbas said that he told Israel and US that "there will be no relations with them, including the security ties".
There was no immediate comment from US or Israeli officials.
The Palestinian leader said that he refused to take US President Donald Trump's phone calls and messages. "I know he will use that to say that he consulted us," he said.
Abbas said that he will never accept the solution. "I will not have it recorded in my history that I have sold Jerusalem," he said, adding that Palestinians remain committed to ending the Israeli occupation and establishing a state with its capital in east Jerusalem.
Abbas said that the Palestinians would not accept the US as a sole mediator in any negotiations with Israel. He said they would go to the United Nations Security Council and other world and regional organisations to explain their position.
The Arab League's head, Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, said the proposal revealed a "sharp turn" in the long-standing US foreign policy regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "This turn does not help achieve peace and a just solution," he said.
Aboul-Gheit called for the two sides, the Israelis and the Palestinians, to negotiate to reach a "satisfactory solution for both of them."
Ambassadors from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman had attended the White House's Tuesday peace plan unveiling, in a tacit sign of support for the US initiative.
Saudi Arabia and Egypt -- Arab states that are close US allies -- said they appreciated President Trump's efforts and called for renewed negotiations without commenting on the plan's content.
Egypt urged in a statement Israelis and Palestinians to "carefully study" the plan. It said it favours a solution that restores all the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people through establishing an independent and sovereign state on the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Egyptian statement did not mention the long-held Arab demand of east Jerusalem as a capital to the future Palestinian state, as Cairo usually has its statements related to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Jordan, meanwhile, warned against any Israeli annexation of Palestinian lands and reaffirmed its commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state along the 1967 lines, which would include all the West Bank and Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
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