Demonstrators have flooded the streets outside the US Embassy in Ankara and the consulate in Istanbul, venting their rage over the newly-unveiled 'deal of the century', which Turkey has slammed as an "annexation plan."

Hours after the much-hyped Middle East peace plan was announced by US President Donald Trump, demonstrators in Turkey's two biggest cities came out in force to protest the roadmap to peace that many argue is skewed in favor of Tel Aviv.

© REUTERS/Kemal AslanProtesters gather to protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed Middle East peace plan, near the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey January 29, 2020.

Videos posted on social media show demonstrators chanting slogans and waving Palestinian and Turkish flags as they march towards the US Embassy in the Turkish capital. The rally, organized almost on the spot shortly after Trump's announcement, drew in a huge crowd. Many could be seen holding their smartphones up to the night sky, turning the streets into a sea of light.

Hundreds turned out in Istanbul as well, voicing support for Palestinians who have already rejected the plan. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called it a "conspiracy deal," adding that it would be impossible for Palestinians to accept a solution in which Jerusalem remains the US-recognized capital of Israel.

While the majority of US allies in the region have either expressed cautious optimism about the arrangement or endorsed it, Turkey has lambasted the "stillborn" plan, calling it an "attempt to kill the two-state solution" and annex Palestinian territory.

"We will always stand by the brotherly people of Palestine. We will continue to work for an independent Palestine within Palestinian lands," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

Jordan is another regional power to staunchly oppose the plan as inherently flawed, noting that the only viable two-state solution is one that envisions a Palestinian state with pre-1967 borders and a capital in East Jerusalem. Trump's deal predictably drew wrath from Iran, which called it the "treason of the century" and said it is doomed to fail.

Trump's empire-style plan to bring war rather than peace to Middle East

US President Donald Trump's "deal of the century" has turned out to be nothing but another colonial empire-style plan ignoring not just the interests of the Palestinians but the UN decisions as well, analysts told RT.

The peace plan that Trump said would "greatly benefit" both Israelis and Palestinians was little more than a manifestation of Washington's arrogance, the experts agree. It shows that the US believes it can single-handedly decide sensitive issues of international politics that usually fall under the jurisdiction of the UN, such as the status of Jerusalem.

"In going so far as decreeing Jerusalem's status, the Deal of the Century clearly has echoes of the 19th century's age of empires which created the current impasse in the Middle East that inspires recurring terrorism," said Afshin Rattansi, host of RT's Going Underground.

© Reuters / Mohammed SalemFILE PHOTO: Palestinian demonstrators react to the US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan, in the northern Gaza Strip, on January 28, 2020.

His guest, former ambassador UK to the Palestinian Authority Sir Richard Dalton, noted that Trump's unilateral decision on Jerusalem's status is nothing short of "de facto violation of 2017 emergency UN resolution" and could even be seen by the international body as a "flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention."

Yet the Trump administration apparently believes that it has "the right to unilaterally defy" all these international norms, since it openly endorses Israel's illegal annexations, the diplomat added.

The US proposal is extremely unlikely to bring even a hint of peace to the Middle East, since Washington was apparently more concerned about pleasing its allies in Tel Aviv rather than offering a genuinely feasible solution to the decades-old conflict.

Palestinians "are being presented with a deal that was made exclusively between the US and Israel" and hardly has any regard for their interests at all, said former US diplomat Jim Jatras, adding that the deal looks more like an ultimatum than an agreement.

"Like everything else in this so-called plan, it is 'take it or leave it'," Jatras said. "That is what the US and Israel will offer you and if you do not take it, they will take more. I think that is why Trump said it was Palestinians' last chance."

"Either they will settle to the deal offered to them or they will get nothing."

That is precisely why this proposal has been a "non-starter" from the very beginning, believes former Pentagon official Michael Maloof.

"If you are going to have an agreement you will need both sides to go along with it. Right now I do not see Palestinians going along with it," he told RT.

Jatras believes that getting Palestinians to sign the deal might not be the goal of this proposal, which opens the way for Israel to further annex Palestinian territories in the West Bank like the Jordan Valley, with an approval from Washington.

"I expect that to happen fairly soon. Trump said that the US will then recognize these annexations as they recognized the annexation of the Golan Heights," he said.

The pompous unveiling of the peace plan was "the latest act of political theater" by Trump, who has honed his double-speak skills by confusing and manipulating the American people and now hopes to repeat the same trick with the Palestinians, American comedian Lee Camp told RT.

"For decades he has lied, reneged, and stolen - and his 'Two State Solution' is no different. He and Netanyahu were joined at the announcement by ultra-Zionist billionaire Sheldon Adelson and many others who have pushed for and celebrated an endless array of war crimes," Camp noted, adding that the Palestinians were nowhere to be seen.

"The Palestinian people were not a part of this process. They are being asked to surrender what remains of their rights and sovereignty."

The consensus across the board is that this "deal of the century" could actually bring war to the Middle East, not peace. Palestinians already fiercely oppose this proposal and attempts to shove it down their throats would only be met with more resistance, potentially leading to a full-blown conflict.

"Palestinians are already threatening a new Intifada as a result," Maloof said. "It would create a whole new dimension of violence in the region."

'Mix of tragedy & farce'

The two embattled politicians - one facing impeachment and the other entangled in a bribery case - did not miss the opportunity to have a joint PR stunt, but only managed to stomp on the international law and agreements such as the Oslo Accords that established the Palestinian Authority "just like the JCPOA, the nuclear deal [that] was ripped up by President Trump," Galloway told RT.

He added that the occupied Palestinian territories remain occupied de jure, regardless of how long Israel clings onto them.

"It completely reverses international law, which states very clearly the inadmissibility of acquiring territory by force and illegally settling that territory. All of that has been reversed," Galloway said. "So, for a property man Trump showed a very poor grasp of the property law."

Trump's gaffe with the Al-Aqsa mosque - one of the main holy sites for Muslims - only reinforced the impression that the US president poorly understands the whole complexity of the Palestinian issue, Galloway believes.

"When President Trump referred to an 'Al-Aqua' mosque - which was a rather wet joke - making clear that he has no understanding whatsoever that the Al-Aqsa mosque is one of the holiest shrines in Islam, therefore placing it under Israeli sovereignty infuriates the best part of 2 billion Muslims in the world."

Ambiguous wording the US President used on the issue of Palestinian capital - promising to open an embassy in "eastern" Jerusalem while calling the city "Israel's undivided capital" - however, was likely intended, Galloway suggests.

The US unilateral decision to recognize East Jerusalem as Israeli territory is unlikely to be accepted by anyone except for Israel and Washington themselves, both due to the religious importance of the city and the existing international law.

"Jerusalem is a city, it has west and east. The east is occupied by force for 53 years, but it remains occupied and nothing that Donald Trump can say can change that. The Security Council will never accept it, the European Union will never accept it, the Arabs will never accept it - even the most obeisant of them can never accept that," Galloway said.

While the ambitious announcement of the "deal of the century" is likely to spark a "furious" reaction across the region, it's unlikely to have any actual effect and change the situation on the ground, Galloway believes. Trump's administration will be simply unable to implement the 'deal' by any means - even if he manages to secure the second presidential term - and no Palestinian leaders would dare to try and impose it on their people.

"Nothing changes as a result of this, at least de facto," the former MP added. "De jure, between the US and Israel it writes new crimes into the book, but it doesn't change anything on the ground."

Europe hedged its bets on supporting the deal, weighing the importance of upholding international law against the need to appear loyal to Washington. Germany "welcomed" anything "aiming to inject new momentum" into the "stalled" peace process, but only went so far as to promise to "carefully examine the proposal" and discuss the resulting questions with other EU members. Foreign Minister Helko Mass made a point of referring to the requirement that any "viable two-state solution" take into account not only "legitimate aspirations of both the Palestinians and the Israelis" but "all relevant UN resolutions and internationally agreed upon parameters." The settlements that appear on Trump's "conceptual map" of post-deal Israel and Palestine are illegal under international law, as is Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights.

The EU echoed Germany's statement almost verbatim, putting international law above the Trump plan but promising to consider the latter.

The UK urged both Israel and Palestine to "give these plans genuine and fair consideration, and explore whether they might prove a first step on the road back to negotiations." Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab waxed poetic about the deal's ability to "unlock the potential of the entire region, and provide both sides with the opportunity for a brighter future."

Egypt echoed the hopeful sentiment. "We call on the two parties concerned to study carefully the American vision, find out its dimensions and open channels of dialogue to resume negotiations under American auspices," the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement voicing its support for the plan.

The UAE expressed hope that "Palestinians and Israelis can achieve lasting peace and genuine coexistence with the support of the international community," its embassy to the US stated on Twitter, praising the US effort.

Saudi Arabia joined the chorus of approval, encouraging the start of direct peace negotiations between Palestine and Israel under US supervision. "Saudi Arabia reaffirms its support to all efforts to achieve a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestine issue," the Saudi Foreign Ministry said n a statement.

Not everyone was pleased, however. Turkey slammed the "stillborn" plan, declaring "Jerusalem is our red line. We won't allow steps to legitimize Israel's occupation and oppression." The Turkish Foreign Ministry called the plan "an attempt to kill the two-state solution" and "a plan aiming to annex Palestinian territory."

"Palestinian people and Palestinian territories cannot be purchased."

Iran eviscerated the plan as "treason of the century," declaring that "such vicious plans are doomed to failure" and calling for "a referendum among all main residents of the Palestinian land" as the only peaceful solution to the Israel-Palestine crisis. Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi called on "all free nations and governments in the region and across the world" to stand up to the Trump administration. Iran, he said, is prepared to unite with any and all Muslim nations to protect Palestine and the Muslim community despite any minor differences among them.

Jordan dismissed the Trump plan as inherently flawed, declaring that a Palestinian state with pre-1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital was the "only path to peace."

"The kingdom wants true, just, comprehensive peace on the basis of a two-state solution that ends the occupation that started in 1967 and preserves the rights of the Palestinian people, guarantees the security of all parties, and protects Jordan's interests,"

Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said in a statement, indicating the matter would be discussed at Saturday's emergency meeting of the Arab League Council. He warned Israel against trying to "impose new facts on the ground, such as annexation of lands, expansion of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, and violation of sanctities in Jerusalem."

Hundreds have already taken to the streets to protest in Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank, according to local media.

Demonstrators in Amman are reportedly being joined by Islamist lawmakers.

Trump announced earlier Tuesday that the deal would see a Palestinian capital formed in East Jerusalem, while simultaneously calling the holy city Israel's "undivided" capital.

Speaking to reporters after Trump's comments, Netanyahu said the US recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital, "by which I mean, within its fences."

Netanyahu clarified that the proposed Palestinian capital under the peace plan will be in Abu Dis, a Palestinian neighborhood on the outskirts of the city.

"Israel is offering the Palestinians, at the end of the process, conditional, limited sovereignty," Netanyahu said.

Yet, as the peace plan was revealed, Netanyahu did not wait to move forward with previous plans to annex more parts of the West Bank, which he said were areas that would remain under Israeli control under the envisioned solution.

He said he would bring a proposal for applying Israeli jurisdiction to the Jordan Valley, the northern Dead Sea and West Bank settlements to his cabinet for approval, "presumably on Sunday."

Responding to the much-hyped unveiling on Tuesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the plan was a "conspiracy" and Palestinian rights are "not for sale."

The plan envisages a $50 billion dollar economic revival program for Palestine, but Palestinians have largely regarded it as a way for Israel and the US to bribe them into giving up their rights and accepting permanent occupation.

"I say to Trump and Netanyahu: Jerusalem is not for sale, all our rights are not for sale and are not for bargain. And your deal, the conspiracy, will not pass," Abbas said in a TV address from the West Bank.

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In an 11th-hour decision, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has withdrawn his request to parliament to grant him immunity from prosecution. The move apparently undermines his rival Benny Gantz's US visit.

The statement was published as Netanyahu visited the United States, where President Donald Trump is scheduled to unveil his long-expected 'Deal of the Century', an arrangement that will reportedly bring numerous benefits to Israel and support its policies on Palestine.

The high-profile event will be a boost to Netanyahu, who is facing an unprecedented third snap general election in less than a year, standing against former general Benny Gantz. Washington gave a surprise public relations boost to Gantz - who may become the next Israeli prime minister, should his Blue and White party break the deadlock with Netanyahu's Likud in March - by offering him a separate meeting with Trump on Monday.

Gantz responded to Netanyahu's move, saying the PM is now going to trial.

"Israeli citizens have a clear choice: a prime minister who will work for them or a self-employed prime minister. No-one can run a state and simultaneously run three serious criminal cases for bribery, fraud and breach of trust," he said.

"Netanyahu hates to be the loser. He wanted the immunity and he wasn't able to get it. He stood no chance. He doesn't have a majority in the Knesset to get the immunity," Eldar said.

The Knesset was still expected to assemble despite Netanyahu's withdrawal of his request to form the committee, which will also address former welfare minister Haim Katz's request for immunity from prosecution in his own corruption cases.

Ayman Odeh, leader of the Joint List of Arab parties in the Israeli parliament, said "the path to trial is paved and no diplomatic public relations stunt in the world" would prevent him from being brought to justice.

Netanyahu could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of bribery and a maximum three-year term for fraud and breach of trust.

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