An Iraqi member of parliament has stated that the US is planning on transferring Palestinians to western Iraq as part of the “Deal of the Century” Middle East peace plan, according to the Iranian Fars news agency.
“The US is plotting to keep out Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) from the Western provinces of Iraq, specially al-Anbar province, in a move to provide a proper ground for sheltering the Palestinians inside Iraq,” Mohammad al-Baldawi, the representative of the al-Fatah coalition in the Iraqi parliament, said to the al-Ma’aloumeh news site on Tuesday.
The MP claimed that the US is preparing a large area of the al-Anbar desert for Palestinian families.
“The presence of Hashd al-Shaabi in these regions prevents implementation of the Deal of the Century plan and [the] creation of a new homeland for the Palestinians,” Baldawi said.
Karim Alawi, an Iraqi parliament member, slammed the US in an interview over the weekend, alleging that the Americans want to “destabilize” Iraq and that the US is involved in a pro-ISIS conspiracy to bring extremists from Syria.
In recent months, tensions have risen between Iraq and the US. Washington carried out air strikes on Iraqi pro-Iranian militias in December and killed IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani on January 3 along with Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Iraqi militias have fired rockets at US forces in Iraq, and pro-Iranian voices want the US to leave Iraq.
Seth J. Frantzman contributed to this report.
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