South African group slams Trump’s Mideast peace plan

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - A South African media advocacy group on Tuesday described U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan as a crazy move meant to legitimize the occupied Palestinian territories by Israel which is similar to apartheid.

“Undoubtedly, masses of Palestinians in the occupied territories and millions of their compatriots living in squalor as refugees across the Arab world would be appalled if not livid that the Trump administration has announced a process to extinguish their legitimate rights by gifting the occupying colonial regime with its so-called ‘deal of the century’,” Iqbal Jassat, executive member of the Media Review Network (MRN), told Anadolu Agency.

Jassat said Trump’s decision to hand complete control of Jerusalem to Israel along with Syria's Golan Heights implies he has now stripped Palestinians of all rights.

‘‘Rights including the Right of Return of Palestinian refugees, the right to freedom, right to justice and right to equality and dignity, which are all sacrosanct, have just been trampled under by Trump in collusion with an over-zealous [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu,” he said in a reaction statement.

Jassat further described Trump’s announcement as the latest betrayal of Palestine, and it has not only brought shame to America, but has also exposed the hypocrisy of U.S. allies in Europe and the Middle East.

“Their inability to challenge his repugnant abuse of power is confirmation of their supportive role in allowing Israel's persecution and oppression of Palestinians.”

On Tuesday, Trump released his often-delayed plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during a press conference at the White House, where he was hosting Netanyahu, while Palestinian authorities were not represented.

The Palestinian group Hamas decried the terms of the agreement, saying: "This deal isn’t worth the paper it's written on and Jerusalem will remain for Palestinians."