As the US elections are due in November 2020, US President Donald Trump has embarked on a journey to accomplish feats that can promise him victory in another presidential term. The moderation in the trade war, the solution to the Afghan peace process, preventing Iran from having the nuclear nukes and resolution of the Palestine issue can be the potential ticket for Trump’s other term victory.
The Palestine issue, among those predicaments, is the oldest and most complicated. It calls for an indispensable solution.
However, to resolve this lingering dispute, Trump’s long proclaiming deal has been revealed. “Deal of the Century” was unveiled to Israeli fanfare and Palestinian outrage. The deal favours Israeli interests over Palestinian rights, ignores fundamental principles of international law and steers away from the impression of two sovereign states.
The Trump-Netanyahu plan for Palestine seeks to create Palestinian homelands under the complete control of the Israeli state. Israel’s annexation of the Jordan Valley is one of the main features of the plan. However, the deal was met with strong disapproval of the people, which led to a flow of the Palestinian condemnations. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has rebuffed the US president’s plan for peace between Israel and Palestinians.
However, the deal is not worthy of consideration in dealing with a number of sensitive matters, which are the foundation of Israel-Palestine conflict. While dealing with the status of Jerusalem, the deal rings hollow. The status of Jerusalem has been widely contested since Israel occupied the city in 1967 and Donald Trump recognised it as the capital of Israel in 2017. The plan envisions Jerusalem as Israel’s exclusive capital while the Palestinians would have a capital in “Eastern Jerusalem.”
“Jerusalem should be internationally recognised as the capital of the State of Israel. As per the plan, Al Quds should be internationally recognised as the capital of the State of Palestine.”
On the border issue, Trump’s plan proposes a two-state solution that stands in contrast to the former two-state solution proposed along the 1967 borders. “Israel and the US do not believe that Israel is legally bound to provide the Palestinians with 100 per cent of the pre-1967 territory,” the plan said. Instead, Palestinians will be given an archipelago of enclaves, attached by a network of highways, roads and tunnels. This would include a tunnel or highway connecting the Gaza Strip, with enclaves in the West Bank. In this way, the plan is doing very little to ensure sovereignty to the Palestinians, instead, it prioritises the Israeli security all above. The plan also prohibits the return of refugees–numbered around six million–to Palestine. Only refugees registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) will be eligible for “any refugee rights” under the plan.
The plan asserted, “the State of Palestine will not have the right to produce military, intelligence or security agreements with any state that harmfully affects the security of Israel. Palestine will not be able to form military capabilities inside or outside of the State of Palestine.”
Conclusively, the plan grants Palestinians the status of a trimmed state with no army under complete Israel’s control.
The Palestine issue is the oldest and most complicated. It calls for an indispensable solution
Trump’s plan has also an absurd alluring dimension, which offers $50 billion to the State of Palestine if it complies with the plan. The economic part of the plan promises economic development and one million new jobs for the Palestinians over the next 10 years. However, the issue with the peace plan remains that the source of funding for its $50 billion budget is still unclear.
The deal of the century is unlikely to contribute meaningful resolution of the Palestine-Israel conflict.
Instead, it jeopardises further escalation of an already stiff situation, accelerating the erosion of joint conflict management. Even the Palestinian leadership is not ready to agree to the US approach. Palestinian leaders have decried Trump’s plan for the Mideast as an effort to “finish off the Palestinian cause.”
“We reject it, and we demand the international community not be a partner to it because it contradicts the basics of international law and inalienable Palestinian rights,” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said.
Palestinian politician Hanan Ashrawi tweeted, “First lift the siege of Gaza, stop the Israeli theft of our land, resources &funds, give us our freedom of movement & control over our borders, airspace, territorial waters, etc. Then watch us build a vibrant prosperous economy as a free & sovereign people.”
The absence of a proposed solution for the status of Jerusalem, major political issues, particularly Palestinian statehood, and the right to return of immigrants, render peace plan as nothing more than a stab to bribe the Palestinians into giving up the quest for self-determination. Donald Trump’s deal showers favour for the State of Israel, which seems constrained in addressing the lingering and elusive Palestine-Israel conflict.
Additionally, the deal is a handy tool for exonerated Trump from impeachment charges, to salvage its reputation among Jewish electors of the US. Along with it, through the plain, in Israel, Netanyahu can also bag victory for another term in upcoming elections in March 2020.
The writer is a freelancer