Palestinians to take Trump’s ‘Deal of Century’ to ICJ

By Qais Abu Samra

JERICHO, Palestine (AA) – The Palestinians will take a U.S.-proposed “Deal of the Century” -- ostensibly aimed at resolving the decades-long Israel-Palestine conflict – to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), a senior official of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said Monday.

“We seek to get an ICJ endorsement that this plan runs counter to international legitimacy resolutions that East Jerusalem is an occupied territory,” Saeb Erekat, a member of PLO Executive Committee, told Anadolu Agency.

Erekat, however, did not specify the exact date of going to the ICJ over the issue.

The Palestinian leadership "is working based on an integrated plan to respond to Trump’s decision.”

The term "Deal of the Century" refers to a back-channel U.S. plan to decisively settle the perennial Palestine-Israel dispute.

On Jan. 21, Anadolu Agency revealed details of the plan, which calls for annexing the whole city of Jerusalem and major settlement blocs to Israel in return for establishing a demilitarized Palestinian state.

The plan also calls for making the 12,000-dweller West Bank village of Abu Dis, which borders Jerusalem, as the capital of a future Palestinian state instead of East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in 1967, which Palestinians hope that the city might eventually serve as the capital of a Palestinian state.

The proposed plan also calls for the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, keeping territorial water and airspace under Israeli control and reaching a “just solution” to the issue of Palestinian refugees.

The plan came amid a worldwide outcry over a decision by U.S. President Donald Trump last month to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.