Palestinian Authority slams 'colonial' Trump letter 'endorsing Israel's West Bank annexation'

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has slammed a leaked letter that appears to show former US President Donald Trump's endorsing Israel's plans for the annexation of large parts of the West Bank.

The letter, released by The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, appeared to contradict claims by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner that hinted former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to annex the occupied Palestinian territories unilaterally.

In the letter - which has been condemned by the PA - Trump allegedly gave Netanyahu the gren light to annex the West Bank territories two days before the then US president publically announced his so-called peace plan.

The PA foreign ministry said Trump's 'Vision for Peace' was: "official piracy and extension of the ominous Deal of the Century".

"[It is] an integral part of the previous US administration’s endorsement of, and absolute support for, the occupation and its racist expansionist colonial projects," it added.

It added that Trump's "anti-peace plan" gave no legal validity to Israel's planned annexation of West Bank settlements, which the roadmap envisioned.

Trump's so-called Deal of the Century would give Israel huge tracts of the occupied West Bank - including illegal settlement lands and the Jordan Valley - leaving Palestinians with slivers of land that were effectively controlled by Israel.

The deal was unanimously denounced by Palestinians and led to worsening relations between the PA and Washington.

The international community were also sceptical of the planned deal, viewing two states based on Israeli-Palestinian 1967 boundaries as the most credible solution to the crisis.