Only lifting embargo will end Gaza crisis: PLO official

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - The Gaza Strip’s dire humanitarian situation can only be eased by lifting the decade-long Israeli blockade of the territory, a senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official said Thursday.

“The Gaza crisis can only be resolved by lifting Israel’s air/land/sea embargo and achieving inter-Palestinian reconciliation [between Hamas and Fatah],” Saeb Erekat, member of the PLO’s Executive Committee, said in a statement.

“A solution must come through the will of the people based on the principles of political partnership and pluralism,” he added.

Erekat went on to assert that a secret U.S. peace plan -- which U.S. President Donald Trump has dubbed the “Deal of the Century” -- was aimed at “terminating the Palestinian cause for Israel’s benefit”.

“Trump’s recent White House meeting on Gaza’s humanitarian crisis was just another attempt to shift responsibility for the siege from the Israeli occupiers to other parties,” he said.

According to Erekat, Trump’s peace proposal “seeks to take the issues of Jerusalem and [Palestinian] refugees off the negotiating table and detach the West Bank from the Gaza Strip with a view to derailing a viable two-state solution”.

On Monday, Trump held a meeting at the White House -- attended by the representatives of 20 countries, including Israel and the Gulf States -- to discuss Gaza’s deteriorating humanitarian situation.

The Palestinian Authority (which is closely aligned with the PLO) boycotted Monday’s meeting due to Trump’s recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital -- a move that drew condemnation and protest from across the Arab and Muslim world.