The Arab League on Saturday rejected US President Donald Trump's controversial Middle East plan, saying it did not meet the "minimum rights" of the Palestinians. The pan-Arab bloc convened in Cairo days after the US unveiled its plan which is seen as favoring Israel. The meeting brought together Arab senior officials including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister and the United Arab Emirates' minister of state for foreign affairs. In a statement released afterwards, the League said it "rejects the US-Israeli 'deal of the century' considering that it does not meet the minimum rights and aspirations of Palestinian people." Arab states also vowed "not to ... cooperate with the US administration to implement this plan." They insisted on a two-state solution that includes a Palestinian state based on borders before the 1967 Six-Day War — when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza — and with east Jerusalem as its capital. The US plan suggests that Israel would retain control of the contested city of Jerusalem as its "undivided capital" and annex settlements on Palestinian lands. Trump said Palestinians would be allowed to declare a capital within annexed east Jerusalem. Abbas announced a cut of all ties with Israel and the United States, including security cooperation. "We are informing you that there will be no relations with you (Israel) and the United States, including on security cooperation," Abbas said in his address to the Arab League meeting. There was no immediate comment from US or Israeli officials. The Palestinian leader said that he'd refused to take President Trump's phone calls and messages "because I know that he would use that to say he consulted us." "I will never accept this solution," Abbas said. "I will not have it recorded in my history that I have sold Jerusalem." Abbas said that the Palestinians wouldn't accept the US as a sole mediator in any negotiations with Israel. He said they would go to the United Nations Security Council and other world and regional organizations to "explain our position." "We still believe in peace using the basis [of plans laid out in] the Arab Peace Initiative and the UN Security Council resolutions," Abbas said, adding that the authority would go to the UN Security Council to find a solution to the issue. Abbas stated that Jerusalem did not just belong to Palestinians, but to all Arabs as well. He added that Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman told him that the Kingdom would always stand with the Palestinians. Saudi Arabia reaffirms its support for the Palestinian people and their just cause, the Kingdom's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan told the meeting. The Arab League's head, Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, said the proposal revealed a "sharp turn" in the long-standing US foreign policy regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "This turn does not help achieve peace and a just solution," he declared. Aboul-Gheit said that the Palestinians reject the proposal. He called for the two sides, the Israelis and the Palestinians, to negotiate to reach a "satisfactory solution for both of them." Aboul-Gheit urged the union's members to formulate a unified stance on Trump's peace plan.
