The Palestinian Return Centre strongly rejects and condemns the imperialist United States and its 'Peace to Prosperity' initiative, which clearly is an endorsement of Israeli apartheid, military occupation and settler colonialism.

The PRC also condemns in the strongest terms the UK Government and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab's welcoming of the proposal. The US proposal, specifically its conferring of Israeli sovereignty over parts of the Occupied West Bank, goes against the UK government's official position of support to a 'two-state solution' based on the 1967 borders and its supposed rejection of annexation.

The US proposal does not meet any of the Palestinian minimum demands on core issues such as borders, Jerusalem and refugees. In fact, the absence of any Palestinian representation being officially consulted in the drafting of the proposal shows that it was not meant to address the Palestinians' longstanding needs. Rather it is an attempt to further subjugate Palestinian aspirations and strengthen Israel's hand internationally.

The Palestinian Return Centre rejects the proposal's attempts to further marginalise and liquidate the right of return of Palestinian refugees. The proposal's suggestions on how to resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees, completely absolves Israel of any responsibility for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. It denies that Israel should be liable for any compensation or restitution of the properties it has stolen and destroyed. It also tries to draw a false equivalence between Palestinian refugees and Jewish refugees that were displaced from Arab states following 1948. Palestinian refugees bear no responsibility in that regard and therefore it should not infringe on any of their demands.

The proposal explicitly states that there will be no right of return to their lands and territories, but only a limited and conditional return of refugees to areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. It states that Palestinians who have resettled to other countries are not entitled to their right of return or to any compensation. We reiterate that Palestinian refugees have the right to return to their lands, homes and properties.

The PRC rejects the proposal's compensation framework, and the creation of a 'Palestinian Refugee Trust' administered by a US trustee. The plan also does not guarantee any form of freedom of movement as it confers to Israel total control based on its "security needs".

Lastly, the PRC condemns and rejects the suggestion that upon a potential agreement by Palestinian officials to this plan, all Palestinian refugees will lose their refugee status and UNRWA will be terminated. We reject this and reiterate that Palestinian refugees will continue to demand for return and their legitimate rights until they are implemented. At the same time, UNRWA should continue to operate until the right of return is realised.   

We call on UK politicians to condemn the UK government's support for this US plan, which is an endorsement of Israeli annexation of the Occupied West Bank and an entrenchment of an apartheid system.

We call on civil society, the UN and activists to loudly reject the US attempts to further attack the rights of Palestinian refugees with these proposals that will only benefit Israel's colonial project.

The PRC will be launching a global campaign to show Palestinian's rejection of the plans to annul their right of return.