Daily Times

The European Union’s foreign policy chief slammed the U.S.’s so-called Middle East peace plan Sunday during a visit to Jordan’s capital.

“The U.S. plan challenges many of the internationally agreed parameters: the 1967 border, as agreed by both parties, with a state of Israel and an independent, viable state of Palestine, living side-by-side in peace, security and mutual recognition,” said Josep Borrell, who met with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and King Abdullah in Amman to discuss bilateral relations and regional developments.

“In Jordan and the European Union, we are very much aware that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the longest, most painful and complex conflicts in our history.

“The experience over the past 50 years has shown that without agreement among all sides, no peace plan has the chance to succeed. To find a sustainable way forward, both parties need to come back to the table,” Borrell said later in a statement to Jordanian television.

Moreover, Turkey on Sunday announced its support for the Arab League’s recent decision to reject the U.S.’ so-called peace plan for the Middle East.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters that he hoped for the same unity from the members of the pan-Arab bloc at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Executive Committee Ministerial to be held Monday in Saudi Arabia’s capital Jeddah to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Israeli authorities have made it a tradition to bomb Gaza at least once a month. Most recently, their F-16 jets have bombed the south of Gaza under the pretense of retaliation. On the other hand, it goes without saying that Israel constantly does everything in its power to increase pressure on Gaza to make it uninhabitable to the local people.

In addition to the systematic embargo in effect since 2006, while it enforces control and limits movement across the Rafah Border Crossing, it also demolished all existing tunnels from the enclave. At this point, bombing the already strained region strengthens claims that Israel now aims to drive off the local people.

While today it is Israeli experts and politicians who broach the idea of relocating Gazans to the Sinai Peninsula, the issue was first proposed to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Aug. 8, 2014, by the leader and government of an Arab nation.

Since its establishment as a state, Israel has constantly been making moves to claim Gaza as well as unlawfully occupy Palestinian lands. The first appearance of Gaza on the agenda was actually in 1956 when Igor Ayland proposed that its inhabitants be relocated to a region in the Sinai Peninsula. Remaining on the agenda until the present day, this offer was once again opened to international debate when Trump became president of the U.S. and has become a subject of debate more in recent years since Abdel Fattah al-Sisi seizing power through a coup in Egypt. This was because accepting the Palestinians in the Sinai was a demand attached to Sisi’s ascension to power.

The plot to relocate Palestinians does not appear to be an easy and readily-agreeable possibility. For it to materialize, first, an extreme right government must emerge from the elections in Israel.

For the plan to be put into motion, Israel needs to form an official alliance with Egypt and regional actors must acknowledge their inability to solve the Palestinian issue. The issue of relocating Gazans to the Sinai Peninsula has become an issue of debate in the U.S. since Trump became president. His claim to bring peace to the Middle East aside, his policies since he became president seem certain to cause serious injury rather than bring peace. The decision by Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel while ignoring the legitimate rights of Palestinians in international law was seen by international actors as direct support for Israel’s suppression policies on Palestinians. It is known that most close colleagues of Trump, who at every chance emphasizes his support for Israel, back Jewish extremists and are Jewish themselves.

The scenario of relocating of Palestinians does not seem, in our opinion, an easy and immediately acceptable possibility. For this to happen, firstly, an extreme right government must emerge from the elections in Israel. Additionally, Israel has to form an official alliance with Egypt, and subsequently, the actors in the region must acknowledge their weakness in solving the Palestinian issue. At this point, when we look at the countries of the region, even though they do not express this openly, the fact that they are all struggling with their own internal problems certainly encourages the Zionist regime. Another thing that Israel is aiming for that will serve its own purposes is to especially weaken Gaza economically and force its inhabitants to migrate. In this regard, it is a very important development that one of the most recent studies reveals that one in four young people living in Gaza wants to live somewhere outside the enclave.