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News > Israel

Trump Unveils New Middle East Peace Plan

  • Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner departs after U.S. President Donald Trump delivered joint remarks with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., January 28, 2020.

    Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner departs after U.S. President Donald Trump delivered joint remarks with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., January 28, 2020. | Photo: Reuters

Published 28 January 2020
Opinion

Trump's long-awaited peace plan called for the possible creation of a Palestinian state with the a capital in eastern Jerusalem.

U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his so-called "Deal of the Century" on Tuesday, which proposed the possible creation of a Palestinian state with a capital in east Jerusalem. 

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The peace plan, which was supposed to be unveiled last Summer, also calls for Palestinians to recognize the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, many of which are considered illegal due to the fact they were built after the expulsion of Palestinian families. 

In exchange for recognizing the settlements, Israel must agree to a four-year-long freeze on new settlement activity while Palestinian statehood is being negotiated. 

In exchange, Israel would agree to accept a four-year freeze on new settlement activity while Palestinian statehood is negotiated, the officials said.

The previous Israeli-Palestinian talks broke down in 2014, and it was far from clear that the Trump plan will resuscitate them. U.S. officials said they were braced for initial Palestinian skepticism but hoped that over time they will agree to negotiate. The plan places high hurdles for the Palestinians to overcome to reach their long-sought goal of a state.

It remains to be seen also how Israel responds, given the pressures the right-wing Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, faces going into his third attempt at re-election in less than a year.

The plan encompasses about 80 pages, 50 of them the political plan announced on Tuesday and 30 from an economic plan announced last July setting up a $50 billion economic revival plan for Palestinians, Jordan and Egypt.

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 Jared Kushner and Avi Berkowitz and former adviser Jason Greenblatt.

Trump has endorsed a proposed map outlining the two states, the 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, the official said.

Trump briefed Netanyahu and his rival in Israel’s March 2 elections, Blue and White Party chief Benny Gantz, in talks on Monday. Netanyahu was to appear alongside Trump for his announcement on Tuesday.

Asked what Washington was prepared to do to advance negotiations, the officials said it was up to the Palestinians to come forward and to say they are prepared to negotiate.They said both Netanyahu and Gantz had said they were willing to support the effort.

Israeli leaders have agreed to negotiate on the basis of the Trump plan and agreed to the map, the officials said. Israel’s agreement on statehood for Palestinians is dependent on a security arrangement to protect Israelis, 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.

Palestinian statehood would be dependent on Palestinians taking steps for self-government, such as respect for human rights, freedom of the press and having transparent and credible institutions, the officials said.

“In doing the map it’s incredibly difficult to try to create contiguity for a Palestinian state based on what’s happened over the past 25 years so if we don’t do this freeze now I think that their chance to ever have a state basically goes away,” said one official in reference to the growth of Jewish settlements.

“So what we’ve done is basically we’ve bought four more years for them to get their act together and try to negotiate a deal for them to become a state, and I think this is a huge opportunity for them,” the official said.

The official said the question for Palestinians is will they “come to the table and negotiate?”

If they agree to negotiate, there are some areas that can be compromised in the future, the official said without offering details.

Trump’s plan calls for Palestinians to be able to return to a future state of Palestine and creates a “generous compensation fund,” the official 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.

“The notion that hundreds of thousands of people, or tens of thousands of people, are going to be removed either forcibly or not from their homes is just not worth entertaining,” the official said.

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.

While Israeli leaders have welcomed Trump’s long-delayed plan, Palestinian leaders had rejected it even before its official release, saying his administration was biased towards Israel.

A Netanyahu spokesman said the Israeli leader would fly to Moscow on Wednesday to brief Russian President Vladimir Putin on the proposals.

Palestinian leaders had said they were not invited to Washington, and that no plan could work without them.

On Monday Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said he would not agree to any deal that did not secure a two-state solution. That formula, the basis for many years of frustrated international peace efforts, envisages Israel co-existing with a Palestinian state.

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