Daily Times

The seven-decade-long Palestine-Israel dispute started in 1948 when the Arab-Israel war divided the land into three parts: The West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the State of Israel.

Every American administration in the White House has supported Israel but in December 2017, Trump crossed the threshold that his predecessors were refraining from: recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. However, Trump’s “Peace to Prosperity” plan announced in late January this year is an effort to change the Palestinian demography and curtail them geographically; adding insult to Palestinian injury.

The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, visited Israel last Wednesday to discuss the coronavirus pandemic with Netanyahu. Washington dubbed the visit as “The US and Israeli efforts to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as regional security issues related to Iran’s malign influence.”

However, it is believed the attempt was to gauge the new government’s commitment to a US-backed “Peace to Prosperity” to annex large parts of the Palestinian territories. This has already been condemned and dismissed worldwide and violates international law.

Trump is committed to materializing his peace plan that is indeed an occupation plan of the Palestinian territories

Trump’s peace plan places almost all Arab neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty; leaving the Palestinians with the villages of Kafr Aqab, Abu Dis and the Shuafat refugee camp. These neighbourhoods are located on the eastern side of the Israeli Wall, which separates Israel from the occupied West Bank. It is in this part in the east of Jerusalem (but not in East Jerusalem) that the Palestinians have been told to build their capital to be named Jerusalem. The new capital would, thus, be separated from the Al-Aqsa mosque and the 300,000 Palestinians currently living in East Jerusalem.

Furthermore, the plan includes the exchange of territory where Palestine will be given some barren land along the Egypt border while the West Bank settlements will be integrated with Israel. Palestine will become a six-piece state having no direct contact with each other while encircled by Israel. Ironically, the plan states that the Palestine territories will be connected via tunnels and bridges those too would be in Israel’s control.

For more than a decade, Israeli authorities have largely sealed off the Gaza Strip, banning the movement of two million Palestinians living there outside of “exceptional humanitarian cases” and maintaining a formal “policy of separation” between Gaza and the West Bank. Israel’s closure of Gaza, which is vastly disproportionate to any concrete security threat, separates thousands of Palestinians from relatives in the West Bank, inside Israel, and abroad. Moreover, Israel has imposed large restrictions on the movement of more than two million Palestinians who reside in the West Bank that is occupied by Israel. For specific reasons, the Israeli army issues the Palestinians time-limited permits to enter into the West Bank, which is a sheer violation of human rights.

The world community has denounced the plan that provides for building settlements on the occupied Palestinian territories. Besides, the Israeli settlements in Golan and East Jerusalem are also illegal. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) consider any settlement outside Israel as illegal. While the United Nations (UN) has repeatedly stated the Jewish settlements in the Palestinian areas as a violation of the Geneva Convention. Moreover, the United Nations Security Council resolution no. 242 states Israel should return to its 1967 borders. However, Trump is committed to materialising his peace plan that is indeed an occupation plan of the Palestinian territories. He is playing many games for his upcoming elections and by this, he will surely get the support of the Jewish lobby in the US.

On the other hand, the Palestinians have been rejecting the plan, claiming that the US cannot make any meaningful peace talks between Palestine and Israel. The Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat noted, “The Trump administration is collaborating with Israel in its annexation plan in what is both an attempt at burying the rights of the Palestinian people as well as a blatant attack on a rules-based international system,” added in the reaction of the Pompeo’s visit. He further stated, “Those who introduce plans for annexation and apartheid and the legalization of occupation and settlements are the ones who bear full responsibility for deepening the cycle of violence and extremism.”

The Palestinian Authority is planning to raise the issue in the UN Security Council in the light of international law that will emphasis on the 1967 lines between both the states.

If Israel goes for the execution of the plan, the reaction from the Palestinians will be natural that will result in large-scale violence, leaving both the communities insecure and will enable the conflict to persist for a long time. Therefore, this issue needs continued international attention from all major powers i.e. the European Union, the UK, the Arab world, and the larger region as it may affect the whole Middle East.

The writer tweets @yousafzaiZafar5.