Palestinian PM: PA filed counter-proposal to Trump’s peace plan, it wasn’t discussed

ABBAS MOMANI / AFPPalestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh arrives for a press conference at the Foreign Press Association in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on June 9, 2020.

Shtayyeh says Ramallah tabled a 4.5-page-long proposal which could soon be made public

Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Tuesday that Ramallah did file a counter-proposal to the Middle East peace plan by US President Donald Trump’s administration, but it was never discussed.

“We submitted a counter-proposal to the Quartet [European Union, UN, Russia and the United States] a few days ago,” Shtayyeh said.

He detailed that the text, “four and a half pages” long, proposed the creation of a “sovereign, independent and demilitarized Palestinian state” and “modifications to the drawing of borders when necessary.”

However, the US wanted to table its own proposal, and thus, the Palestinian document was never discussed, Shtayyeh claimed.

He added that Ramallah may publish the text of the counter-proposal in the coming days, while admitting that the counter-proposal amounted to a summary of the long-running Palestinian negotiating positions and did not necessarily hold any new concessions or demands.

The latest Middle East Quartet meeting was held on May 22, and the UN is now calling for a new one to be held as quickly as possible, urging its members to come up with a proposal that would allow it to assume the mediator’s position.

The urgency stems from Israel’s plans to apply its sovereignty to West Bank areas under Donald Trump’s Peace to Prosperity Plan, rejected by the Palestinians from the start.