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On January 28, 2020, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas spoke at a press conference in response to the release of the details of the "Deal of the Century" peace plan. Saying the deal is the "culmination" of the Balfour Declaration, which he claimed the United States had founded, Abbas said that the Palestinians reject the "conspiratorial" deal a thousand times over, that Jerusalem is not for sale, that an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital will be established, that the Palestinians should take to the streets like the Lebanese people, that the Palestinians only accept negotiations based on United Nations resolutions, and that the PA, Hamas, and other Palestinian factions should put aside silly differences and stand united. President Abbas also said that the Palestinians are not a terrorist people, but that they deserve to live.
Mahmoud Abbas: "I'd like to say to the Trump and Netanyahu duo that Jerusalem is not for sale. None of our rights are up for sale or for compromise. Your conspiracy of a deal will not pass.
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"Our people will send [the deal] to the garbage bins of history, where all the conspiratorial plans to eliminate our cause have gone.
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"We have just heard President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu talking about the 'Slap' of the Century. We will respond to this slap with multiple slaps, inshallah, in the future.
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"Having heard these statements, which were nonsense from beginning to end, we say a thousand times: 'No, no, no, to the Deal of the Century.' Dear brothers, I consider this deal to be the culmination of the Balfour Declaration. This was what they were aiming for in the Balfour Declaration.
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"The Deal of the Century is based on the Balfour Declaration, which was created by America and Britain. Some may find this strange. America? Yes, America! And Britain. It was America that formulated [the Balfour Declaration], in agreement with Britain, and it was America that incorporated it into the Covenant of the League of Nations, even though it was not a member of the League of Nations, and it was America that incorporated it into the Command Paper of the [British] Mandate, even though it was not in charge of that Mandate. Then it said: 'This must be implemented.' Who did? America! Should this come as a surprise? In the past, we used to hear that the Americans have democracy and moral values, but this is the American policy that we see being implemented on our land now. Therefore, we must understand the facts as they are. America founded the Balfour Declaration, and it has now begun to implement it. Some people accept the claim that the Zionist lobby – AIPAC – controls American, and that the U.S. administration follows the policy of the Zionist lobby. That's nonsense. Nonsense. It is the American policy that hires all the lobbies so that they heed its policy and plans. I would like us to understand this.
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"We shall continue our efforts and our struggle in order to reach an independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, within the borders of June 4 [1967].
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"We adhere to our national principles, which were published by the Palestinian National Council in 1988.
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"We say to the world: We are not a terrorist people. We have never been a terrorist people. We are committed to the fight against terrorism. However, the world must understand that this people deserves to live. In addition, we adhere to negotiations on the basis of the international legitimacy [of the U.N. resolutions]. I said at the Security Council that I want an international conference and negotiations led by the Quartet. I will not accept America as the sole [mediator]. I won't have it. I know that I cannot ignore American, but America is not the entire world. No. There is an international Quartet. I will accept the international Quartet. I also accept that five countries will be with the Quartet. They are welcome to put any of the U.N. resolutions on the table and we are ready to negotiate on the basis of this. But on the basis of Trump's deal, or the deal of anyone else... Tomorrow someone else might show up. I don't know. Mr. Trump... If something happens, and he does not complete his term, someone else will come, and he will say the same thing. This policy is the policy of the deep state. It's not random. It's from 1917, not from today.
"We will not accept this. We will fight with everything we have. The peaceful popular protest will be our number-one weapon. I didn't look outside, but I think that the Palestinian people is in the streets, here, in Jerusalem, in the West Bank, and everywhere in the world. I didn't tell the people to take to the streets, but they saw and heard what was said by Mr. Netanyahu and the other one... Trump. The people have taken to the streets on their own. We should use this method. Look at our brothers in Lebanon. The young men and women of Lebanon have been in the streets for 100 days now.
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"We should do the same, inshallah. I am addressing all the Palestinian factions.
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"I talked to Mr. Ismail Haniyeh. I said to him... He said to me first: 'We must meet immediately. In half an hour.' I said to him: 'How about meeting in Gaza immediately, and starting a new stage, inshallah, of Palestinian dialogue and joint Palestinian action?' We should overcome all the small and silly things, in order to stand united. If we stand united, the whole world will surely stand and salute us. We are people who deserve life. We are people who want our rights. Finally, I'm saying to our martyrs, our prisoners, and our wounded: Israel and America have tried to deny us our money, which they collect for us for a fee... Nothing with them is for free... They get a fee for everything... In order to make us stop paying the prisoners, the wounded, and the martyrs. The prisoners, the wounded, and the martyrs are the most sacred to us. By Allah, if we have one single penny left, it will be spent on the martyrs, the prisoners, and the wounded.
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"We will turn to the Security Council, and we will act in Europe and everywhere around the world, but the most important action is the action on the ground. It is what you do that takes hold, so don't wait to see what others are doing for you. The others are important, and it is imperative that we draw them into our ranks, but it won't work if we don't have ranks to begin with. You need to act in order for people to help you. Remember the beginning of the Palestinian [movement], the beginning of Fatah. Why did it happen? Because if we had not done it ourselves, nobody would have. If we had not started it ourselves, nobody would have done it for us."
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