RAMALLAH: Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas denounced US President Donald Trump`s peace efforts as the "slap of the century", at a key meeting Sunday on the White House`s declaration of Jerusalem as Israel`s capital.

In a wide-ranging two-hour speech, Abbas reiterated he would not accept the Trump administration as a mediator in peace talks with Israel and called for an internationally-led process.

He also accused Israel through its actions of ending the 1994 Oslo peace accords that form the basis of Palestinian ties with the Jewish state, saying the Palestinians would study all strategies for responding to it.

Beyond that, Abbas attacked the US ambassadors to Israel and the United Nations, David Friedman and Nikki Haley, calling them a "disgrace".

Both Trump appointees have been strong supporters of Israel, with Friedman having backed Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

"We said `no` to Trump, `we will not accept your project`," the Palestinian president said.

"The deal of the century is the slap of the century and we will not accept it," he added, referring to Trump`s pledge to reach the "ultimate deal" -- Israeli-Palestinian peace.

The meeting in Ramallah of the Palestinian Central Council -- a high-ranking arm of the Palestine Liberation Organisation -- was called in the wake of Trump`s December 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel`s capital.

The move has infuriated the Palestinians, who want the annexed eastern sector of the city as the capital of their future state.

Prior to the declaration, Trump and his envoys, including senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner, had spent months seeking to negotiate how to restart talks between Israel and the Palestinians, stalled since 2014.

But since Trump`s Jerusalem announcement, the Palestinians have refused to meet with the US administration, and Abbas is expected to shun Vice President Mike Pence when he visits the region next week. In the buildup to the Central Council meeting on Sunday and Monday, Palestinian officials had stressed that all options were on the table for responding to Trump, including suspending the PLO`s recognition of Israel.

Abbas did not mention recognition but said the Oslo accords that led to the creation of his Palestinian Authority and envisioned a final resolution to the conflict were in effect finished.

"I am saying that Oslo, there is no Oslo. Israel ended Oslo," he said, referring to persistent Israeli settlement building and other issues seen as eroding the possibility of a two-state solution to the conflict.

The 121-member council will meet Monday to discuss strategy for responding to Trump`s announcement, but Abbas offered few concrete policy proposals.

Hugh Lovatt, Israel and Palestine Project Coordinator at the European Council for Foreign Relations, said while the speech was full of rhetoric, there was little noticeable policy.

"It is safe to say that president Abbas has done little to improve US-Palestinian relations which have now reached their nadir," he told AFP.

"Abbas`s rambling speech was also noteworthy for what was not there -- namely, any real vision for moving beyond the failed US-led Oslo paradigm.

"Those hoping for a glimpse of a new Palestinian strategy to end the occupation or a shift towards a one-state solution will have been left disappointed."

While Palestinian leaders have been outraged by Trump`s moves, they also face difficult choices in how to respond as they seek to salvage remaining hopes of a two-state solution to the conflict.

Earlier this month, Palestinian leaders said they will not be "blackmailed" after Trump threatened to cut aid worth more than $300 million annually to force them to negotiate.

Trump says "we refused negotiations. May God demolish your house. When did we refuse?" asked an indignant Abbas. </s> Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas denounced US President Donald Trump's peace efforts as the "slap of the century", at a key meeting on Sunday on the White House's declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

In a wide-ranging two-hour speech, Abbas reiterated that he would not accept the Trump administration as a mediator in peace talks with Israel and called for an internationally-led process.

He also accused Israel through its actions of ending the 1994 Oslo peace accords that form the basis of Palestinian ties with the Jewish state, saying the Palestinians would study all strategies for responding to it.

Beyond that, Abbas attacked the US ambassadors to Israel and the United Nations, David Friedman and Nikki Haley, calling them a "disgrace".

Both Trump appointees have been strong supporters of Israel, with Friedman having backed Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

"We said 'no' to Trump, 'we will not accept your project'," the Palestinian president said.

"The deal of the century is the slap of the century and we will not accept it," he added, referring to Trump's pledge to reach the "ultimate deal" — Israeli-Palestinian peace.

The meeting in Ramallah of the Palestinian Central Council — a high-ranking arm of the Palestine Liberation Organisation — was called in the wake of Trump’s December 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The move has infuriated the Palestinians, who want the annexed eastern sector of the city as the capital of their future state.

Prior to the declaration, Trump and his envoys, including senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner, had spent months seeking to negotiate how to restart talks between Israel and the Palestinians, stalled since 2014.

But since Trump’s Jerusalem announcement, the Palestinians have refused to meet with the US administration, and Abbas is expected to shun Vice President Mike Pence when he visits the region next week.

In the buildup to the Central Council meeting on Sunday and Monday, Palestinian officials had stressed that all options were on the table for responding to Trump, including suspending the PLO's recognition of Israel.

Abbas did not mention recognition but said the Oslo accords that led to the creation of his Palestinian Authority and envisioned a final resolution to the conflict were in effect finished.

"I am saying that Oslo, there is no Oslo. Israel ended Oslo," he said, referring to persistent Israeli settlement building and other issues seen as eroding the possibility of a two-state solution to the conflict.

The 121-member council will meet on Monday to discuss strategy for responding to Trump’s announcement, but Abbas offered few concrete policy proposals.

Hugh Lovatt, Israel and Palestine Project Coordinator at the European Council for Foreign Relations, said while the speech was full of rhetoric, there was little noticeable policy.

"It is safe to say that president Abbas has done little to improve US-Palestinian relations which have now reached their nadir," he told AFP. "Abbas's rambling speech was also noteworthy for what was not there — namely, any real vision for moving beyond the failed US-led Oslo paradigm."

"Those hoping for a glimpse of a new Palestinian strategy to end the occupation or a shift towards a one-state solution will have been left disappointed."

While Palestinian leaders have been outraged by Trump's moves, they also face difficult choices in how to respond as they seek to salvage remaining hopes of a two-state solution to the conflict.

Earlier this month, Palestinian leaders said they will not be "blackmailed" after Trump threatened to cut aid worth more than $300 million annually to force them to negotiate.

Trump says "we refused negotiations. May God demolish your house. When did we refuse?" asked an indignant Abbas. </s> A paralysed and indecisive Palestinian leadership, faced with mounting pressure from the Americans and Israelis, is undermining key national goals, analysts say.

They say the decisions taken by the Palestinian National Council (PNC) during its meeting in Ramallah last week show that Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, lacks the will to respond to American and Israeli efforts to thwart Palestinian statehood.

While in session, the PNC took several decisions including the redefinition of relations with Israel as one of "conflict".

It dismissed the PLO-Israel interim agreements signed in Washington and Cairo in the 1990s as "expired", and rejected the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

In the past, Abbas, 82, has repeatedly insisted that the path to achieving statehood for the Palestinians lies only through peace negotiations with Israel, not armed struggle.

On the face of it, the PNC decisions indicate a departure from the negotiations path, the analysts say.

However, in reality, the Palestinian leadership is too weak and fragmented to either withdraw from existing agreements with Israel or end the policy of treating peace negotiations as a strategic choice.

Mohamad Dalbah, a Washington-based Palestinian analyst, says the crisis confronting Palestinians today is rooted in the "catastrophic" Oslo agreement that Abbas and the late Yasser Arafat signed with Israel.

Oslo was a "strategic mistake" for the Palestinians, he told Al Jazeera, because it never stipulated the establishment of a Palestinian state and left open-ended the core issues of the status of Jerusalem and the right Palestinian refugees displaced by Israel in 1948.

In 1993 the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed the Oslo agreement with Israel and established an interim Palestinian Authority.

The Oslo Accords stipulated that within five years of the signing of the agreement - that is, in 1999 - both parties should enter into negotiations for the final-settlement status, including the issues of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

Twenty-five years later, Palestinians and Israelis have yet to start any final settlement negotiations.

Jamal Zahalka, a Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset, told Al Jazeera the decisions of the PNC are "meaningless" as long as the PA continues security coordination with Israel, which is the most important objective for Israel.

Zahalka said the current Palestinian condition, defined by a weak local government, is in the best interest of Israel but not the Palestinians because it is conducive to neither peace nor resistance.

By maintaining internal security in Palestinian areas on behalf of Israel, the PA reduces Israel's military burden of maintaining its military occupation.

However, Abdallah Abueid, a Palestinian legal expert, says the international position of the Palestinians in light of the PNC decisions is "legally solid".

This is because Israel has repeatedly violated the agreements, refuses to withdraw from the occupied territories and is unwilling to conclude final-status negotiations with the Palestinians, says Abueid, who teaches International law at Bethlehem University.

That being said, "Palestinians are in a very precarious position today and are unable to move forward or even go backward if they wanted to".

Zahalka, the Knesset member, says Palestinian leaders should now take a strategic decision to reinvigorate popular and peaceful resistance to the Israeli occupation.

"Only then would Israel find itself compelled to end its illegal occupation," he told Al Jazeera.

During its session in Ramallah, the PNC also re-elected Abbas president of the State of Palestine and chairman of the PLO.

It further elected 15 members of the executive committee out of 18 representing different Palestinian factions most of whom are Abbas loyalists.

Neither the PNC nor any governing body formally discussed the issue of a successor for the octogenarian Abbas, who is reportedly suffering from multiple ailments.

According to sources familiar with internal deliberations on the succession issue, Abbas supports the separation of the powers of the PLO, the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, and the chairman of Fatah.

Abbas is in favour of having a different person to lead each body, the sources told Al Jazeera. </s> Paris (CNN) The Mideast peace conference in Paris closed Sunday, calling for Israel and the Palestinians to embrace a two-state solution as the only route to peace, despite Israel's Prime Minister branding the conference "useless."

The conference, which is being attended by representatives from some 70 countries, began Sunday with the aim of bringing both sides to the negotiating table and maintaining support for a two-state solution.

"They emphasized the importance for the parties to restate their commitment to this solution, to take urgent steps in order to reverse the current negative trends on the ground, including continued acts of violence and ongoing settlement activity," the closing statement from the conference read.

Any two-state solution should satisfy both sides, the statement said. That includes recognizing Palestinians' sovereignty and their right to statehood, as well as Israel's security needs, while ending "the occupation that began in 1967" and resolving all "permanent status issues" based on UN Security Council resolutions.

Among the permanent status issues are Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, settlements, security and borders.

Israeli, Palestinian response

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday that the conference was coordinated by the French and the Palestinians and sought to "force terms on Israel that conflict with our national needs."

He seemed to welcome the inauguration of American President-elect Donald Trump later this week, saying, "This conference is among the last twitches of yesterday's world. Tomorrow's world will be different -- and it is very near."

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Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon also slammed the conference, saying it "is so detached from reality that it has extended a hand towards Palestinian obstructionism instead of towards peace."

Echoing Netanyahu's sentiments on working with Trump, he added, "In the next few weeks we will enter a new era and work with the incoming US administration to undo the damage caused by the Security Council resolution and these other one-sided initiatives."

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the conference at the opening of the Palestinian embassy in the Vatican on Saturday.

"We praise the role of President (Francois) Hollande and the French government in organizing this international conference, and we call upon the participants to take concrete measures in order to implement international law and UN resolutions," Abbas said.

'Emergency'

The talks, hosted by France, were aimed at restarting some level of negotiations after the last round of talks collapsed in 2014.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told delegates that preserving the two-state solution is an "emergency" in the face of threats by "colonization" and continued violence.

"The parties remain very distanced in a relationship of defiance, which is particularly dangerous, and no one is immune to a new explosion of violence."

Speaking as "a friend of Israel," the foreign minister said the country's security was of profound concern, but "there will not be regional peace, solid and durable, as long as the conflict with the Palestinians will not be resolved."

Addressing the timing of the conference, in the final days of President Barack Obama's administration, Ayrault said, "Well, we have demonstrated that the entire world wishes for peace."

On France itself recognizing a Palestinian state, Ayrault said it hadn't really been discussed and that the focus was on bringing the Israelis and Palestinians to the negotiating table again.

"The position of France, and we have precedent in this, is that there is no future of peace in this region of the world if we do not reaffirm the necessity for two states," he said.

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French President Francois Hollande warned that accepting the "status quo" was not an option for the international community and criticized those who believe holding such a conference is naive.

"It would be naive to consider that bridging the gap between Israel and its neighbors, so necessary, is possible without progressing towards peace between Israelis and Palestinians," he said in a speech.

The conference comes amid rising tensions between Israeli and Palestinian leaders following December's passing of a UN Security Council resolution that condemned Israeli settlement construction.

Israel fears the recommendations of the conference could turn into another Security Council resolution during the Obama administration's final days.

Embassy controversy

Netanyahu has made it clear he's looking forward to working with Trump , who campaigned on a pledge to relocate the US Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a proposal that has caused consternation in the international community.

Arab and European allies have warned the incoming Trump administration that such a move would risk undermining the peace process and lead to further violence in the region.

Ayrault called the proposal a "provocation" and said previous American presidents had put forward this option in the past but ultimately balked.

"The question of Jerusalem," he said, "can only be discussed in the framework of a negotiation between all parties."

He said he looked forward to working with Rex Tillerson, Trump's secretary of state nominee.

Abbas responded to Trump's pledge by writing the leaders of Russia, China, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Arab League and others asking them to stop Trump.

US Secretary of State John Kerry warned such a move could cause "an absolute explosion in the region." Later, Kerry told reporters that it would have been inappropriate to include mention of Trump's proposal in the peace conference's final communique, according to media reports.

Last week, Trump's transition team floated the possibility of initially having the US ambassador to Israel work and live in the US consulate in Jerusalem, while the American Embassy remains in Tel Aviv.

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Abbas has written to Trump to register his concern over how moving the embassy could shatter any chances of peace.

PLO Secretary-General and chief negotiator Saeb Erekat also confirmed that Russia had been urged to prevent any such move from occurring.

"The Palestinian presidential office have sent a message to all foreign ministries asking them to use all tools to prevent Trump's decision to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem. This will put an end to the two-state solution and it crosses all red lines," Erekat told CNN.

Erekat also confirmed the message from Abbas was delivered to President Vladimir Putin "through Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday." </s> The European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini assured President Mahmoud Abbas at a meeting in Brussels on Monday that the EU supported his ambition to have East Jerusalem as capital of a Palestinian state.

 Abbas in return repeated his call for East Jerusalem as capital as he urged the EU member nations to recognize state of Palestine immediately, arguing that this would not disrupt negotiations with Israel on a peace settlement for the region.

 Mogherini, in what appeared to be a veiled reference to US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel, called on those involved in the process to speak and act “wisely,” with a sense of responsibility.

 Abbas made no reference to Trump’s move on Jerusalem or to comments on the issue made on Monday in Jerusalem by US Vice President Mike Pence.

 The European Union’s top diplomat said EU foreign ministers will study ways to support a two-state solution in Israel and the Palestinian territories in talks Monday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

 Federica Mogherini said that the EU is working “to support an international framework to accompany direct negotiations” despite the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

 Mogherini told reporters that “clearly there is a problem with Jerusalem. I would say that this is a very diplomatic euphemism.”

 She said “the only pragmatic, realistic solution for Jerusalem has to come through direct negotiations.”—Reuters </s> Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday President Donald Trump ought to be ashamed of himself for saying the Palestinians rejected peace talks.

 

 In a two-hour rebuke of Trump's Palestinian policy, Abbas told the Palestinian Central Council — the Palestinian Liberation Organization's decision-making body — he will no longer accept the U.S. as a peace mediator.

 

 "We can say no to anyone if things are related to our fate and our people, and now we have said no to Trump," Abbas raged. "We told him the 'deal of the century' was the slap of the century. But we will slap back." 

 

 Abbas has called for an internationally negotiated peace process instead of one led by the United States.

 

 Trump has frequently called a Middle East peace treaty "the deal of the century." But his administration's efforts to revive the long moribund peace talks have so far gone nowhere.

 

 Trump has threatened to cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians, saying they have walked away from the negotiations.

 

 Abbas challenged Trump for proof of the Palestinians' refusal to discuss peace. He also accused Israel of tearing up the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords by continued Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank.

 

 The Oslo Accords led to partial self-determination for the Palestinian people, along with the PLO's recognition of Israel. 

 

 But a final two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians has always been elusive. 

 

 The Palestinians want the West Bank and east Jerusalem as part of a future independent state. Israel regards Jerusalem as its eternal and united capital.

 

 Trump's recent recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and plans to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians. </s> BRUSSELS - The European Union's foreign policy chief assured President Mahmoud Abbas at a meeting in Brussels on Monday that the EU supported his ambition to have east Jerusalem as capital of a Palestinian state.



Abbas in return repeated his call for east Jerusalem as capital as he urged the EU member nations to recognize a state of Palestine immediately, arguing that this would not disrupt negotiations with Israel on a peace settlement for the region.



Mogherini, in what appeared to be a veiled reference to US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel, called on those involved in the process to speak and act "wisely", with a sense of responsibility.



Abbas made no reference to Trump's move on Jerusalem or to comments on the issue made on Monday in Jerusalem by US Vice President Mike Pence. </s> BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's foreign policy chief assured President Mahmoud Abbas at a meeting in Brussels on Monday that the EU supported his ambition to have East Jerusalem as capital of a Palestinian state.

Abbas in return repeated his call for East Jerusalem as capital as he urged the EU member nations to recognize a state of Palestine immediately, arguing that this would not disrupt negotiations with Israel on a peace settlement for the region.

Mogherini, in what appeared to be a veiled reference to U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel, called on those involved in the process to speak and act "wisely", with a sense of responsibility.

Abbas made no reference to Trump's move on Jerusalem or to comments on the issue made on Monday in Jerusalem by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. </s> United States, U.S. and Israeli officials have lambasted Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, after he called the American ambassador to Israel a “son of a dog” and a “settler” in a fiery speech the day before.

On Tuesday, Israeli Minister for Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi called the statement “inflammatory” and “inexcusable.”

“Negotiations, not insults and hate, are the path to peace and prosperity in the region,” Hanegbi said in a tweet a day after U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman insinuated that the remark is anti-Semitic.

The war of words comes at a low point in U.S.-Palestinian relations. US President, Donald Trump recognized the contested city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last December, sparking Palestinian outrage.

President Abbas of Palestine has since said that the U.S can no longer maintain its decades-long role as the main mediator between Israelis and Palestinians, while the White House says it is still planning to release a peace plan.

Speaking at the start of a Palestinian leadership meeting in Ramallah on Monday, Abbas sharply increased tensions with the rival Hamas faction, saying that Hamas was behind an assassination attempt on the Palestinian prime minister on Friday.

Abbas, who controls the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority government, said that he would respond to the attack with “national, legal, and financial measures.”

The Palestinian leader’s strong words appear to foreshadow a new pressure campaign against Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

Abbas has already withheld electricity payments to the coastal enclave in an attempt to mount pressure on Hamas to cede power, causing blackouts for Gaza residents.
Nabil Shaath, the foreign affairs adviser of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, says that the Palestinian Central Council freezes its recognition of the state of Israel until Israel recognizes Palestine as a state. Palestine will freeze the Oslo accords.