Trump leaps into Middle East fray with plan that favours Israel and angers Palestinians

[webfact]

Trump leaps into Middle East fray with plan that favours Israel and angers Palestinians

By Steve Holland and Dan Williams

 

Palestinians take part in a protest ahead of the announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump of his long-delayed Mideast peace plan, in Gaza City January 28, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed creating a Palestinian state as part of a Middle East peace solution, drawing Palestinian condemnation for imposing strict conditions and for agreeing to let Israel maintain control of long-contested West Bank settlements.

 

Trump announced his plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace at a White House event with embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu standing at his side. It includes what Trump called a four-year freeze by Israel on new settlement activity.

 

Although Trump's stated aim was to end decades of conflict, the plan he advanced favoured Israel, underscored by the absence of Palestinians from Trump's announcement. It seemed unlikely to advance Israeli-Palestinian talks that broke down in 2014.

 

Trump set in motion a four-year timeline for Palestinians to agree to a security arrangement with Israel, halt attacks by the Islamist militant group Hamas and set up governing institutions in order to establish a Palestinian state with its capital in Abu Dis, a part of east Jerusalem.

 

 

This too poses a potential problem for Palestinians.

 

Abu Dis lies a mile east of Jerusalem's walled Old City, home to Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites. Palestinians living in Abu Dis are cut off by a high concrete Israeli security wall and checkpoints.

 

The site is unlikely to satisfy Palestinian leaders who want a more central location. Trump's plan says this barrier should serve as a border between the capitals of the two states, adding that Jerusalem should remain Israel's undivided, sovereign capital.

 

"My vision presents a win-win opportunity for both sides, a realistic two-state solution that resolves the risk of Palestinian statehood to Israel's security," Trump said.

 

'SLAP OF THE CENTURY'

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking to reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, mocked what Trump has called the "deal of the century" as the "slap of the century."

 

"Jerusalem is not for sale, our rights are not for sale and are not for bargain and your deal, the conspiracy will not pass,” Abbas said.

 

Critics say both Trump and Netanyahu have been intent on diverting attention away from domestic troubles. Trump faces an impeachment trial while Netanyahu was formally indicted in court on corruption charges on Tuesday. Both men deny any wrongdoing.

 

Netanyahu also faces a difficult election in March - his third in less than a year. He is locked in a battle with Blue and White Party chief Benny Gantz, who also expressed support for the Trump plan.

 

Netanyahu said that the Trump plan offers Palestinians a pathway to a future state but that it may take them "a very long time to get to the beginning of that path."

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday at the White House, where President Donald Trump shared a new vision for an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, said Trump's proposal recognizes the Jordan Valley as "a permanent part of the Jewish state."

 

"If they agree to abide by all the conditions you have put forward in your plan, Israel will be there. Israel will be prepared to negotiate peace right away," he said.

 

Trump said he had sent a letter to Abbas asking him to study the deal.

 

"I explained to him that the territory allocated for his new state will remain open and undeveloped for a period of four years. During this time, Palestinians can use all appropriate deliberation to study the deal, negotiate with Israel, achieve the criteria for statehood and become a truly independent and wonderful state," he said.

 

Under Trump's proposed Middle East peace plan, the United States will recognise Israeli settlements on the occupied West Bank.

 

The White House document said Israel agreed to a four-year "land freeze" to secure the possibility of a two-state solution. But a senior Israeli official later played down the notion of a settlement freeze in the West Bank.

 

Palestinians have refused to deal with the Trump administration in protest at such pro-Israel policies as its moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the eastern part of which is sought by the Palestinians.

 

U.S. senior administration officials said they expected initial Palestinian scepticism over the plan but hoped that over time they will agree to negotiate. It places high hurdles for the Palestinians to overcome to reach their long-sought goal of a state.

 

"Strip away the domestic and Israeli political considerations that determined the timing of the plan’s release, and the message to the Palestinians, boiled down to its essence, is: You’ve lost, get over it," said Robert Malley, president of International Crisis Group and a former U.S. National Security Council official.

 

TWO-STATE MAP

The U.S. plan represented the most dramatic and detailed attempt to break the historic deadlock between Israel and the Palestinians in several years, the result of a three-year effort by Trump senior advisers including his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

 

Trump has endorsed a proposed map outlining the two states, U.S. officials said. The Palestinian state would be double the size of land that Palestinians currently control and would be connected by roads, bridges and tunnels, they said.

 

Israel will also take steps to ensure Muslim access to al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and respect Jordan's role regarding holy sites, the officials said.

 

Trump's plan calls for Palestinian refugees to settle in a future Palestinian state and creates a "generous compensation fund" for them, one of the officials said.

 

About Israel retaining the settlements, a U.S. official said: "The plan is based on a principle that people should not have to move to accomplish peace ... But it does stop future settlement expansion which we consider to be the most realistic approach.

 

Before the Trump announcement, thousands of Palestinians demonstrated in Gaza City and Israeli troops reinforced positions near a flashpoint site between the Palestinian city of Ramallah and the Jewish settlement of Beit El in the West Bank.

 

(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah, Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem and Dan Williams and Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Howard Goller and Alistair Bell)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-01-29

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[candide]

It looks like Trump's plan will remain Trump's plan.

[Somtamnication]

Both men need to go away. Those concrete walls will eventually be torn down and Palestinian farmers can farm again. Is anyone surprised?

[notmyself]

Absurd sham. 

[OneMoreFarang]

 

“I think Jared has a real conviction that he’s the Frank Sinatra of the peace process. He’s going to do it his own way,” said Aaron David Miller, a US peace negotiator for previous administrations.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/27/jared-kushner-israel-palestine-peace-plan

 

“It’s a plan that has nothing to do with peace. It’s not about two states,” he said. “It’s about completely changing the terms of an Israeli-Palestinian settlement to move away from ending the occupation, to move away from two sovereign states. It’s consecrating the status quo. It’s really about normalising Israeli occupation on a permanent basis.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/28/israel-palestinian-peace-plan-trump-reaction

 

Enjoy!

[Orton Rd]

The only plan the Palestinians will ever agree to, and they have had several over the years, is the complete destruction of Israel

[sammieuk1]

A calibrated rendering sound about right a covfefe sounds more likely ????

[Tug]

About what I thought pandering for the Jewish vote at the cost of the Palestinen peoples sad

[Emdog]

If it were such a good plan, where were Palestinians during the presentation? Accept these demands and then "negotiate peace" which in essence means "surrender".

[pkspeaker]

at least this time they published a map of it, so it can clearly be exposed as an apartheid scheme where palestinians are fenced in.

[OneMoreFarang]

It's time that leaders around the world tell Trump and his family that they should just shut up if they don't know what they talk about. Because imagine anybody else would have published such a "plan". Would anybody take it serious? Would anybody even listen to that drivel? No!

 

[Dumbastheycome]

Trump doing what he thinks  he is good at? Real Estate  Broker  or what?

[Orton Rd]

51 minutes ago, pkspeaker said:

at least this time they published a map of it, so it can clearly be exposed as an apartheid scheme where palestinians are fenced in.

why did they not accept the first plan where they could have had 80% of the land with the Jews fenced into just 20%?

[Eric Loh]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Trump leaps into Middle East fray

First he is in no physical condition to leap. More like he wander into this Jared’s plan like he did on the WH lawn. He really don’t have the mental concentration for elaborate plan. 

[DaddyWarbucks]

24 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

why did they not accept the first plan where they could have had 80% of the land with the Jews fenced into just 20%?

That's a bogus talking point that lost its meaning a long time ago.

[pkspeaker]

28 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

why did they not accept the first plan where they could have had 80% of the land with the Jews fenced into just 20%?

which plan is that?  where is the plan where no one is fenced in?

[IAMHERE]

2 hours ago, Tug said:

About what I thought pandering for the Jewish vote at the cost of the Palestinen peoples sad

Sure, like Trump has a chance in New York, New Jersey or any other place heavily influenced by that Jewish vote. 

[Saint Nick]

Suuuuurpriiiiiise!

[Jingthing]

2 hours ago, Tug said:

About what I thought pandering for the Jewish vote at the cost of the Palestinen peoples sad

No. 

That is totally off base. 

The vast majority of American Jews vote democratic and will continue to do so. 

Also Jews are a tiny minority anyway in the US. 

The demographic 45 is actually pandering to are right wing Christian evangelicals. 

A massive demographic. 

I will say American Jews are sick and tired of being used as a political football by both the right and left. 

I consider comments like yours to be an example of that. 

This was recently voiced beautifully by Mike Bloomberg. 

[Jingthing]

40 minutes ago, IAMHERE said:

Sure, like Trump has a chance in New York, New Jersey or any other place heavily influenced by that Jewish vote. 

Indeed. 

45 is widely detested by most American Jews and for very good reasons. 

Second or third only to the also justified feelings of African Americans and LGBTs. 

In numerous speeches he has broadcast classic antisemitic tropes. 

His support base includes white supremacists. 

Some of them are good people can't ever be forgiven. 

[Jingthing]

2 hours ago, Emdog said:

If it were such a good plan, where were Palestinians during the presentation? Accept these demands and then "negotiate peace" which in essence means "surrender".

Yes. 

It's a sham plan. 

[Jingthing]

3 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

The only plan the Palestinians will ever agree to, and they have had several over the years, is the complete destruction of Israel

Certainly that is true of many Palestinian but I think there have been opportunities in the past to negotiate a reasonable accommodation for both sides. It seems to me that time has passed. 

[Eric Loh]

The plan in summary is to stand behind staunchly behind Israel and offers Palestine a limited state. No chance in hell will Abbas accept Trump’s plan to give around 30% of the occupied West Bank to Israel. Trump recognizIng Jerusalem and annexed settlements have already brought a high level of distrust with Abbas. The latest plan is purely pandering for his domestic base and political posturing for the upcoming election. Abbas will laugh this plan off. 

[Dogmatix]

Just a sham cooked up by Fraudster Bibi to be lapped up by the nauseating Kushner brat and served to his master. Trump knows perfectly well it has a snowball’s chance in Hell but he runs with it merely to pander to Jewish lobby and its vastly more numerous extreme right wing evangelical allies.

 

Meanwhile, the US makes itself and it’s citizen even bigger targets for terrorists by pedallimg Bibi’s obnoxious and humiliating racist rants for him as official policy.

[Dogmatix]

Actually the Jewish lobby should not be overemphasized with respect to Trump. This sort of plan can be expected to appeal to American Bibi supporters and should  pick up some Jewish votes but will not move the needle with the majority of Jewish Democrat voters, who are deeply concerned by Trump’s ku klux klan heritage and his open support for racial hatred groups and veiled support for antisemitism which is now on the rise in the US.
 

The main target are the evangelical christian nut jobs. Even though many are white supremicists, they believe that God promised the holy land to a group of people who are definitely not Palestinian or Muslim. Whether they like Jews or not on a personal basis, they like Muslims a lot less and are willing to support Israel’s racist policies as a way of fulfilling their warped theocratic visions.

[Sir Swagman]

What a presentation. Two leaders....both basically under indictment - never mind the content....

 

[TooPoopedToPop]

22 minutes ago, rhyddid said:

Shame on everybody try to defend such plan, in next life you deserve to be born a Palestinian ! 

Or an Israeli...

They're both in this mess together.

Like weasels fighting in a hole.

[Jingthing]

30 minutes ago, rhyddid said:

Trump presented a plan done by his son in law and practically wrote by the most right wing Israelis Zionist agencies.

It's by itself a shame versus whatever humanity, it a pro genocide plan, that only aim is to make Palestinians disappear so the Zionist can take over the land.

Present Israel government is very clearly on the same path of Nazi Hitler government, the methodologies are changed 70 years after, but the goal remain the same : a sadist way to exterminate a population!

Shame on everybody try to defend such plan, in next life you deserve to be born a Palestinian ! 

While I agree that right wing Israeli government policies towards Palestinians and this bogus plan are truly awful, I want to object to conflation of those policies with Nazis. That is clearly an extremely inflammatory and totally false thing to do. What is it with the Israel demonization agenda? Are they not capable of criticizing Israeli government policies without resorting to the arguably anti-Semitic conflation with Nazis? Clearly not and to do so is neither OK or historically accurate. 

[JHolmesJr]

God bless Prez Trump but I doubt this plan is going to go far.

The Palestinians were not in the room....so it appears they 

weren't consulted. The optics of this won't play well.

 

See...you dont have to be a journalist to analyse things.

[Jingthing]

2 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

Actually the Jewish lobby should not be overemphasized with respect to Trump. This sort of plan can be expected to appeal to American Bibi supporters and should  pick up some Jewish votes but will not move the needle with the majority of Jewish Democrat voters, who are deeply concerned by Trump’s ku klux klan heritage and his open support for racial hatred groups and veiled support for antisemitism which is now on the rise in the US.
 

The main target are the evangelical christian nut jobs. Even though many are white supremicists, they believe that God promised the holy land to a group of people who are definitely not Palestinian or Muslim. Whether they like Jews or not on a personal basis, they like Muslims a lot less and are willing to support Israel’s racist policies as a way of fulfilling their warped theocratic visions.

Yes exactly. Another thing that so many people do is to fail to realize that American Jews and Israel are not the same thing. Yes Israel policy is important to most American Jews but so are many other issues such as health care and civil rights, and also American Jews overall are much more pro Palestinian civil rights than Israelis. Also until recent history basic support for Israel's right to exist and defend herself has been a very BIPARTISAN issue in the USA. It still mostly is, but sadly both 45 and Bibi have been working hard to corrupt that. As far as converting Jewish voters to the republican party, it hasn't worked and I see no reason that it will work in the future. But it has been poisonous and another example of how both the right and left use Jews as a political football which is definitely not a good thing for the Jews.