RAMALLAH, Thursday, December 20, 2018 (WAFA) - Foreign Minister Riyad Malki Thursday described statements by the United States envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley that the American so-called deal of the century is ready and will be introduced soon as a ploy and a political deception.

He said these statements were aimed at preventing the international community from taking any steps regarding the peace process on the pretext that there are ideas that are ready to be presented to the international community.

Malki said in an interview with the official Voice of Palestine radio that the US administration‘s measures against the Palestinian people and institutions have been made clear since December of last year when it declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved its embassy to it.

He pointed out that the international community was not fooled by this American trick to disrupt any initiatives under the pretext of waiting for the so-called deal of the century, pointing out that what was said by the eight European countries, the new members of the Security Council, at the beginning of the year is a clear indication that they were not fooled by the Americans and therefor their position is to reject any deal that does not fall within the concept of international law, UN resolutions and the terms of reference of the peace process.

Malki said he is going to travel to Moscow on Thursday where he will meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Friday to discuss how to get out of the deadlock in the political process and to discuss ideas to activate the political process based on the principle of the two-state solution and UN resolutions.

He said an Arab-European summit is going to be held in February in Sharm el-Sheikh resort in Egypt, preceded by a meeting for Arab and European foreign ministers in Cairo, pointing out to the importance of these joint meetings and the summit as a starting point for ideas that would revive the political process.

With regard to the Palestinian and Arab moves to discourage Brazil from recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Malki said that a letter had been sent to the Secretary General of the League of Arab States urging him to act quickly before the end of the year and to speak with the Brazilian president, especially since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to attend the inauguration of the new Brazilian president on January 1.

He expressed fear that Brazil’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital may take place during Netanyahu’s presence there.

M.K.