Palestinians slam US ‘illusions’ on Mideast peace

The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Saturday slammed U.S. attempts to bypass the Palestinian rights as "illusions".

"American ideas or deals that bypass the Palestinian position on Jerusalem, statehood and refugees will only lead to a dead end," PA spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a statement cited by the official Wafa news agency.

The spokesman was speaking in reaction to a regional tour by senior U.S. adviser Jared Kushner and special envoy Jason Greenblatt for talks with Arab and Israeli officials.

"There are things that cannot be weighed with gold and humanitarian aid, or solutions that try to cut from a more than 100-year-old historical conflict," Abu Rudeina said.

"The American delegation should abandon the illusion that creating false facts and falsifying history are going to help it sell those illusions," he added.

The spokesman said peace can only be achieved through fulfilling the Palestinian right to statehood.

"Real peace demands commitment to the resolutions of the international legitimacy that are based on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital on the 1967," he said.

As part of their tour, Kushner and Greenblatt held talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and Qatari Emir Tamim. The two also met with Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Friday.

Many observers believe the tour aims to sound out regional leaders regarding proposed terms of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan for reaching a settlement to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The Palestinian leadership, however, has rejected U.S. mediation since December, when Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital.