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Erekat Says US Holds onto Talks Based on ‘Deal of the Century’

Israeli forces check the scene of an attack at an Israeli military checkpoint near the town of Abu Dis in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on June 23, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israeli forces check the scene of an attack at an Israeli military checkpoint near the town of Abu Dis in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on June 23, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
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Erekat Says US Holds onto Talks Based on ‘Deal of the Century’

Israeli forces check the scene of an attack at an Israeli military checkpoint near the town of Abu Dis in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on June 23, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israeli forces check the scene of an attack at an Israeli military checkpoint near the town of Abu Dis in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on June 23, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) executive committee Saeb Erekat said the US has notified the other parties of the Quartet that the ‘Deal of the Century’ will be the foundation for any peace talks.

The US intends to say that now is the time to normalize ties between Arab states and Israel, and in case Palestine wishes to join the negotiations then that would be based on the vision of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Erekat added.

President Mahmoud Abbas said that the Palestinians were ready to go to negotiations mediated by the Quartet and with the participation of other countries, on the basis of the Arab Peace Initiative.

"We are ready to have our state with a limited number of weapons and a powerful police force to uphold law and order," the PA wrote in the letter sent to the Quartet - the United Nations, the US, European Union, and Russia.

It added that it would accept an international force such as NATO, mandated by the UN, to monitor compliance with any eventual peace treaty. The letter proposes "minor border changes that will have been mutually agreed, based on the borders of June 4, 1967."

Arab and European countries in addition to France Russia, China, and the UN have been working on bringing both parties back to negotiations, knowing that the Palestinians have one condition i.e. to suspend the annexation and to consider the Arab Peace Initiative a basis for any talks.

In a press conference, Erekat said that there is an agreement between Arab and non-Arab states that any upcoming talks would have the purpose of establishing a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967 and the Arab League resolutions.

Further, he commended the standpoint of Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa and his commitment to the Arab Peace Initiative.

During his meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, King Hamad “stressed the importance of intensifying efforts to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”

He said that includes a two-state solution for an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.

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Senior US Republican Demands Biden Administration Shut Gaza Aid Pier

A US Army soldier gestures as trucks loaded with humanitarian aid arrive at the US-built floating pier Trident before reaching the beach on the coast of the Gaza Strip, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP)
A US Army soldier gestures as trucks loaded with humanitarian aid arrive at the US-built floating pier Trident before reaching the beach on the coast of the Gaza Strip, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP)
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Senior US Republican Demands Biden Administration Shut Gaza Aid Pier

A US Army soldier gestures as trucks loaded with humanitarian aid arrive at the US-built floating pier Trident before reaching the beach on the coast of the Gaza Strip, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP)
A US Army soldier gestures as trucks loaded with humanitarian aid arrive at the US-built floating pier Trident before reaching the beach on the coast of the Gaza Strip, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP)

The Republican lawmaker who leads the House Armed Services Committee has written to the Biden administration formally demanding it shut down its aid pier off the coast Gaza, calling the operation ineffective, risky and a waste of money.

The offshore floating pier, announced by Biden in March as a response to the threat of famine in the Gaza Strip, was constructed off the coast of the enclave by the US military as a way to bring in food and other aid supplies.

The US military has been authorized to operate it until the end of July, but a US Agency for International Development official said this week that the administration could seek to extend it for at least another month.

"I urge the Administration to immediately cease this failed operation before further catastrophe occurs and consider alternative means of land and air-based humanitarian aid delivery," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers wrote in a letter seen by Reuters.

The letter, sent to White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, has not been previously reported.

Rogers has long opposed the pier and has called in the past for it to be dismantled, but he had not previously expressed that view in a formal written letter to the administration.

His armed services committee is the Pentagon's top oversight body in the House of Representatives, and formal requests from its chairman traditionally require a response from Pentagon officials.

Aid first began arriving via the US-built pier on May 17 into Gaza, where nearly all the 2.3 million residents have been displaced by Israel's campaign against the Hamas movement.

But rough seas have damaged the pier, forcing repairs, and poor weather has limited the number of days the pier has been operational. Most of the supplies that have reached the shore have yet to be distributed by UN aid agencies which say their operations have been limited by insecurity.

"As of June 19, JLOTS had only been operational about 10 days and had only moved 3,415 metric tons onto the beach in Gaza," Rogers wrote, using the US military's acronym for the pier system, known as Joint Logistics Over the Shore.

According to US military data, as of Tuesday, 8,332 pallets had been delivered via the pier. But around 84% of them have been sitting on Gaza's coast in a marshalling area waiting to be picked up by the United Nations for distribution.

The World Food Program paused deliveries earlier this month over security concerns.

Reuters was given rare access to the US military-run pier off Gaza on Tuesday and saw aid pallets being moved from a vessel onto the 1,200-foot (370 m)-long pier as it bobbed around with the incoming waves. The pallets were then taken by trucks to the coast.

The operation is complex, involving about 1,000 US military personnel. The Pentagon estimates the first 90 days of operation will cost about $230 million.

Rogers also noted that three US servicemembers suffered non-combat injuries while deployed on the operation.

"I urge the Administration to immediately cease this failed operation before further catastrophe occurs and consider alternative means of land and air-based humanitarian aid delivery," Rogers wrote.