Netanyahu and Gantz are as 'different as Pepsi and Coke', says Palestine's prime minister

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh has said that the difference between Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "not more than the difference between Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola".

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Mohammad Shtayyeh heavily criticised Israel the US in the wake of the so-called Deal of the Century plan and the upcoming Israeli elections.

Israel is set to take to polls on 2 March in the country's third elections in less than a year, after national polls in April and September failed to yield a governing coalition.

Netanyahu's right wing Likud Party was deadlocked with centrist Benny Gantz's Blue and White Party in both the 2019 elections.

Shtayyeh slammed Trump's deal, which allows for annexation of illegal Israeli settlements and minimises the Palestinian right to return, saying it was "no more than a memo of understanding between Netanyahu and Trump" and would be "buried very soon".

Read more: The five most outrageous proposals in Trump's bizarre 'Deal of the Century'

He said the proposal would leave a future Palestinian state fragmented and with "no sovereignty", allowing Israel to annex large parts of the occupied territories.

He pressed on the global community to reject the Trump proposal whilst maintaining that Palestinians "are open to serious negotiations".

Shtayyeh suggested the Palestinians would seek to increase pressure on Israel to end its illegal activity through international organisations.

He cited a Palestinian success with the recent release of a UN human rights office of a list of 112 companies complicit in violating Palestinian human rights by operating in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

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