US and Palestinians clash over plan for peace with Israel

Palestinians climb the Israeli separation barrier on their way to attend the first Friday prayers in Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque. Photo / AP

A key architect of the long-awaited US plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace lashed out at the UN's "anti-Israel bias" yesterday while urging support for the Trump administration's "vision" — but the Palestinian foreign minister dismissed the US peace effort, saying all indications are it will be "conditions for surrender".

The speeches by US envoy for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt and top Palestinian diplomat Riad Malki at an informal Security Council meeting were on much broader issues than the chosen topic — Israeli settlements at the "core" of the "obstruction of peace". Greenblatt said it was "surprising and unfair" that Indonesia, Kuwait and South Africa organised the council meeting and condemned Israel's behaviour when it "was not even invited to speak at this session". He said it was "inspiring" to see Israel celebrate the 71st anniversary of its independence yesterday.

He called the council's "obsessive" focus on Israeli settlements a "farce", saying settlements aren't hindering peace, and said the council should condemn Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad for firing hundreds of rockets into Israel from Gaza.

The council should also focus on the Palestinian practice of paying the families of "terrorists" rather than on how the US could support the Palestinian Authority's budget, Greenblatt said. The Trump administration has drastically cut support for Palestinians to try to spur their return to negotiations.

The Palestinians pre-emptively rejected any US peace proposal amid concerns it would fall far below their hopes for an independent state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem — which they want as their capital — and Gaza, lands captured by Israel in the 1967 war. Their demand for a two-state solution is supported by the UN and almost all of its 193 member-states.

Malki told the council that after President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel "in blatant violation of international law, it is not possible to have faith" in the peace plan, which was crafted over two years by a team led by Greenblatt and the President's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

"Every decision the US administration has taken since has simply confirmed its disregard for Palestinian lives, for Palestinian rights" and for the two-state solution, he said.

"We cannot afford not to engage with any peace efforts but the US efforts cannot be characterised nor can qualify as peace efforts, unfortunately," Malki said. "All indicates this far that this is not a peace plan, but rather conditions for surrender — and there is no amount of money can make it acceptable."

Greenblatt and Kushner have been tight-lipped about the peace plan's contents.

- AP