AMMAN: A Middle East peace plan presented by US President Donald Trump was "destined to die", Kuwait's top lawmaker said yesterday, adding it was met with near-unanimous disapproval from the international community. Peacemakers should work "seriously" towards genuine peace, which can only mean a full-fledged Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem said during an extraordinary meeting of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union in Amman, where some 20 Arab top lawmakers have gathered.

He emphasized the Palestinians and the entire Arab region vehemently "reject" the US-proposed peace plan, saying the Europeans share similar sentiments as well. The Arab world fully supports all efforts to achieve true peace in the Middle East, in which the rights of the Palestinians are fully protected, Kuwait's top lawmaker underlined. "History, geography and demographics are not on the side of our enemies," Ghanem said, promising that the reality that is the state of Palestine will come "sooner or later", thanking Jordan for organizing the talks.

Trump had suggested creating a Palestinian state as part of a Middle East peace plan with strict conditions allowing Israel to maintain control over West Bank settlements. The plan drew the ire of the wider Arab region, with the Palestinians deeming it as largely biased towards Israel.

Jordanian Parliament Speaker Atef Tarawneh said Palestinians will only accept a viable solution that envisages a Palestinian statehood on the June 4 border with its capital in Jerusalem. He warned that the US Middle East peace plan "confiscates the Palestinian people's rights and undermines the very foundations on which relevant international legitimacy resolutions were based".

Palestinian Parliament Speaker Salim Al-Zanoun addressed the gathering by calling on Arab countries to throw more weight behind the Palestinian people, including material, political and parliamentary backing, and to oppose the recently unveiled US move.

He underscored that it is also essential to adopt resolutions that can ensure the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and to put relevant international legitimacy resolutions in place. Zanoun also urged Arab parliaments and governments to work together as a united group to openly and emphatically turn down the US plan for the Middle East peace process. - KUNA