Arab countries, reunited in Cairo, put their differences over Palestine muted

Mahmoud Abbas could not have asked for a better result. The extraordinary meeting of the Arab League, to which the Palestinian president had called, in reaction to the presentation of the peace plan of Donald Trump, succeeded, Saturday 1st February, to a firm and unanimous rejection of this much-maligned document.

The organization, meeting at its headquarters in Cairo, said in a statement that it "Rejected the American-Israeli agreement (…), since it does not respect the minimum rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people". The League added that the Arab leaders are committed "Not to cooperate with the US administration to implement this plan".

"It is a success for Abbas, who has successfully united the Arab world around the Palestinian cause, says Ibrahim Fraihat, a Palestinian political scientist based in Doha. VSit wasn’t won at all. Peer support seemed a bit shaky in recent days ”.

Article reserved for our subscribers Read also Palestinians feel humiliated by Trump's Middle East plan

Crumbling of the propalestin camp

Unveiled Tuesday January 28 at the White House by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, the so-called "deal of the century" gives the Palestinians a rump state, mimicked by the Jewish colonies, amputated from the Jordan Valley, with, in as the capital, distant suburbs of East Jerusalem.

An arrangement that breaks with the terms of reference of the conflict, in particular the Abdallah plan of 2002, endorsed by the Arab League. This text calls for the creation of a Palestinian state in the 1967 territories, freed from the settlements, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

See our mapping: The Palestinian "state" according to the Trump plan

But the presence at the White House, in the midst of the ecstatic supporters of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Emirati, Bahraini and Omani ambassadors, had revealed some cracks in this Propalestinian facade. The impression of a erosion of traditional Arab positions was accentuated by reading the press releases of the various chancelleries.

A rump state mimicked by the Jewish colonies

If several countries like Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq and Jordan have not made a secret of their circumspection, even their dissatisfaction, others, very dependent on the United States, like Egypt, the Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have seen fit to "Salute the efforts" from Donald Trump and to call for the resumption of negotiations, carefully refraining from referring to the Abdallah plan.

The most accommodating press release is from Abu Dhabi, which describes the Trump plan, dedicated by Abbas to "Trash cans of history", of"Serious initiative" and D'"Important starting point". In the Saudi press, closely linked to the royal family, several editorialists have even castigated the Palestinians' attitude of rejection in recent days, one of them calling them "Professionals of wasted opportunities".

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