Cairo, February 1 (RHC)-- The Arab League has shot down U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, saying it would not lead to a just peace between Israel and Palestine.  The deal has already been rejected by the Palestinian side.

League members met in Cairo on Saturday to discuss the deal, touted by Trump as the “Deal of the Century,” and a realistic roadmap to peace between Israel and Palestine. 

After “studying the American position carefully,” the Arab League issued a unanimous rejection of the plan on Saturday.  In a joint communique, officials from the 22 member states said the deal would not lead to a just peace between both sides, and the league will not cooperate with the U.S. to implement it.

Under the terms of the deal, Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank would be legitimized, and the Jewish state would annex vast swathes of fertile Palestinian land.  While the plan provides for a sovereign Palestinian state, its capital would be located outside East Jerusalem, and its security and border policy would be decided by Israel.

Furthermore, the plan recognizes the entirety of Jerusalem, including the holy sites on Temple Mount, as Israeli property.  Jerusalem is claimed as a capital city by both Israel and Palestine, and by ceding the city to Israel, the Trump administration likely anticipated its rejection by Abbas and the Arabs.

The emergency meeting was called in order to define a unified Arab world position in response to the ‘deal of the century,’ the League’s deputy chair, Hossam Zaki, told RT Arabic.  “This position will be obligatory for every [member state],” Zaki stressed.

Zaki believes that the terms of the American proposal are absolutely unfair to Palestinians.