Kuwaiti speaker throws Trump plan in ‘bin of history’

Parliamentary speaker Ghanem throws Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ into dustbin while denouncing its bias in favour of Israel.

AMMAN - Kuwaiti parliamentarian Marzouq Al-Ghanem has been filmed on Saturday throwing US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan into a bin at an Arab Parliamentary Union meeting.

“In the name of the Arab and Islamic peoples and the honest people of the world, I say that these documents of the so-called Deal of the Century should be thrown in the dustbin of history,” said Al-Ghanem as he disposed of the text to great applause.

Trump unveiled his plan for peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis last month but the Arab world has rejected it for its bias in favour of the Jewish State.

“They want us to move Palestine from a central cause to a secondary one, and from the centre to the margins,” Al-Ghanem said.

“It will not happen. History is not behind you, geography does not help you and demography does not play to your advantage. Palestine will return, Jerusalem will return sooner or later,” he added.

Under the terms of the plan that Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has been working on for nearly three years, a future Palestinian state would consist of the West Bank and Gaza, minus strategic areas where settlements are located, connected by a combination of above-ground roads and tunnels.

It also stipulates that Washington will recognise Israeli settlements in the fertile Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank, which Palestinians see as crucial to a future state.

'Detached from reality'

"This is a historic day,” said a jubilant Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu during the deal’s unveiling, comparing Trump's plan to former President Harry Truman's 1948 recognition of the state of Israel.

Palestinian leaders denounced the deal before it was even released, with Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh urging world leaders to boycott it prior to Trump’s announcement alongside Netanyahu at the White House.

"This is a plan to protect Trump from impeachment and protect Netanyahu from prison. It is not a Middle East peace plan," Shtayyeh told a cabinet meeting.

"This plan gives Israel sovereignty over Palestinian territory," he added.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which represents more than 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide, said in a statement that it "rejects this US-Israeli plan as it does not meet the minimum aspirations and legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and contradicts the terms of reference of the peace process".

Liberal Israeli group Peace Now called the Trump peace plan “as detached from reality as it is eye-catching” and said it will not bring stability to the region.

In the closing statement of the Arab Parliamentary Union conference, the presidents and representatives of Arab parliaments unanimously rejected the deal.

The Parliamentary Conference was launched on Wednesday morning, with the participation of heads and representatives of 20 parliaments, under the slogan “Supporting and Backing the Palestinian Brothers in their Just Cause, the Cause of Arabs and Muslims.”

Attendees included parliamentary speakers from Iraq, Syria, Qatar, Oman, Egypt and Palestine among others.

The Arab Parliamentary Union, established in Beirut in 1974, consists of divisions representing the parliaments and councils of all Arab countries.