MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/. The so-called deal of the century, proposed by the US on Middle East regulation is "a stillborn plan," Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

"As to the 'deal of the century',  this proposition was made at this particular time only for the next American elections. The presidential elections will be held at the end of this year. So, the idea is meaningless, an empty shell," he said.

"When would their idea succeed and when would it fail? It succeeds if the people of this region agree that it should succeed. If you review all political and official statements, as well as public opinion on social media, you will find a total rejection of this plan, including from states and governments allied with America and those that have relations with Israel," al-Assad noted.

"So, it’s safe to say that it is a stillborn plan," he stressed. "Trump might be able to use it in his next elections in order to please the Israeli lobby in the United States. But after that, we will probably not hear about the ‘deal of the century’ until the next elections. At which point there will be another and worse plan presented for the next elections," he noted.

"Deal of the century"

On January 28, US President Donald Trump revealed the key points of the "deal of the century," a plan for Israel-Palestine regulation based on mutual recognition of both states. The US offers to link the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank with a tunnel, also proposing to recognize East Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital.

At the same time, Trump has stressed that Jerusalem remains Israel's "undivided capital," adding that the US intends to recognize Israeli sovereignty over Jewish settlements founded on Palestinian territories. US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman later explained that the planned capital of Palestine would be located in East Jerusalem outside the security barrier separating Arab areas but within Jerusalem’s municipal borders. Among the preconditions for the peace process, the US leader listed Palestine denouncing the Hamas radical movement active in Gaza and ceasing military activity. The US offers Palestine $50 bln as an investment to promote regulation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed support for the deal. For his part, President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas denounced Washington's plan, blasting it as a "conspiracy deal" that will not pass, while Hamas stressed that the plan is "not worth the ink it was written with."

Moscow noted that the deal does not adhere to UN Security Council resolutions on Middle East regulation.