TRUMP DEAL FLIPS PEACE PROCESS ON ITS HEAD

After 20 years of requiring painful concessions of Israel, it’s now the Palestinians’ turn

Israel Today
January 29, 2020

For the past two decades, the formula underlying the Middle East peace process was to accept the Palestinian positions, turn a blind eye to their transgressions (because they were the “oppressed”), and require painful concessions of Israel.

After more than 20 years of failure despite intensive diplomatic efforts, US President Donald Trump’s “Deal of the Century” finally proposes a different approach by effectively turning the peace process on its head.

As top Israeli media commentator Amit Segal wrote: “While Israel will gain its concessions immediately and without conditions, the Palestinians now have to go through ten levels of hell” if they want to gain theirs.

So, what exactly is each side being offered?

Israel gets:

__A green light to annex the 30% of the West Bank containing Jewish settlements, as well as the entire Jordan Valley, what is today known as “Area C”;

__Official US recognition of the annexed areas as sovereign Israeli territory, meaning an automatic veto of any UN effort to sanction Israel; Official US recognition of the annexed areas as sovereign Israeli territory, meaning an automatic veto of any UN effort to sanction Israel;

__Full security control over sea, land, air and electromagnetic space west of the Jordan River, including those areas that are part of a Palestinian state;

__Full security control over all border crossings;

__Hamas and all other independent Palestinian militias will be fully disarmed;

__The Palestinian Authority will stop all payments to terrorists and their families;

__The Palestinian Authority will halt all diplomatic activities against Israel;

__The Palestinian Authority will cease incitement against Israel in its media and schools;

__The Palestinians will recognize Israel as the Jewish state;

__The Palestinians will officially recognize Israel’s new borders after the aforementioned annexation;

__The Palestinians will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel;

__The Palestinians will waive the “right of return” for so-called Palestinian “refugees to sovereign Israel;

__While the Temple Mount will remain under Muslim custodianship, people of all faiths will be permitted to pray there.

Only after they fulfill the above obligations, the Palestinians will get:

__An independent Palestinian state on 70% of the West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip;

__Two large parcels of land in the western Negev to compensate for the 30% of the West Bank annexed by Israel;

__Dedicated highways connecting Gaza to the Negev enclaves, and a tunnel connecting the Palestinian state in the West Bank to the Gaza Strip;

__Some outlying neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem enabling them to also claim the Holy City as their capital;

_Access to the Israeli ports of Haifa and Ashdod;

__Generous financial incentives including extensive trade agreements with Arab neighbors, Israel and the US to boost the economy of the future Palestinian state.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: As expected, Democrats trashed the plan.

Bernie Sanders: “It must end the Israeli occupation and enable Palestinian self-determination in an independent state of their own alongside a secure Israel. Trump's so-called 'peace deal' doesn't come close, and will only perpetuate the conflict. It is unacceptable.”

Elizabeth Warren: “Trump’s ‘peace plan’ is a rubber stamp for annexation and offers no chance for a real Palestinian state. Releasing a plan without negotiating with Palestinians isn’t diplomacy, it’s a sham. I will oppose unilateral annexation in any form — and reverse any policy that supports it.”

Joe Biden: “A peace plan requires two sides to come together. This is a political stunt that could spark unilateral moves to annex territory and set back peace even more. I’ve spent a lifetime working to advance the security & survival of a Jewish and democratic Israel. This is not the way.”

Pete Buttigieg: “It makes complex situations worse. Peace requires both parties at the table. Not a political green light to the leader of one for unilateral annexation.”

Ilhan Omar: “They could have guaranteed justice, and brought everyone into this peace deal, Instead, these two embattled heads of state, impeached and indicted, have a ‘just us’ peace deal. This is not a peace plan. It is theft. It is erasure. Shameful and disingenuous.”

Rashida Tlaib: “It’s fitting that the @realDonaldTrump-@netanyahu ‘plan’ was released by a forever impeached President on the same day that Netanyahu was indicted for corruption. This political stunt gets us no closer to peace or justice. As a member of Congress, I consider it a non-starter.”

Ayanna Pressley: “Let’s remember: Trump has been impeached & Netanyahu was indicted. Releasing a plan without negotiating with Palestinians isn’t diplomacy, it’s a planned distraction. I reject this pro-annexation plan, it is a step in the wrong directionI reject this pro-annexation plan, it is a step in the wrong direction.”

(Omar, Tlaib and Pressley, together with AOC make up AOC’s Squad. Omar and Tlaib have each made several statements that expressed a hatred of Jews.)