This evening (Tuesday), the Trump administration is due to reveal details of its "Deal of the Century" plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians at a White House press conference in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will participate. Several US newspapers have published leaks of important parts of the document.
According to "The Washington Post", the plan offers the Palestinians a gradual route to their own state, subject to them fulfilling certain conditions. The report states that the plan proposes limited autonomy for the Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, with the degree of autonomy gradually increasing over a period of three years if the Palestinian leadership repudiates terrorism and takes further steps in negotiations with Israel.
The report quotes a source who has read the plan as saying that it contains many sweeteners for the Palestinians, and that it puts a Palestinian state within their reach but that it is still far from what they have been demanding over the years. The source says that the plan recognizes the reality on the ground, and redraws the border between in Israel and the West Bank in such a way as to include the main Jewish settlements within Israel. It also gives Israel security oversight in the entire territory.
According to the source, the plan rests on the estimate that the Palestinians' bargaining position is bad, and will become worse as time goes on. It proposes that they should negotiate on part of the cake, otherwise they will see the whole cake disappear before their eyes.
"The Wall Street Journal" reports that the plan calls for Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem, apart from areas that according to the Palestinians will serve as the capital of their future state. There will be land exchanges between territory controlled by Israel and territory controlled by the Palestinians, and in the end, the Palestinians will rule 70-80% of the West Bank.
Administration officials told "The Wall Street Journal" that no Israelis or Palestinians would be required to leave their homes under the plan. Unlike previous peace plans, the Trump plan does not contain any kind of compromise whereby a certain number of Palestinians will be allowed to return to lands within Israel that their families abandoned when the State of Israel was founded.
The White House has invited European and Arab diplomats to attend this evening's unveiling of the plan. According to several sources, the Trump administration has succeeded in obtaining "initial support" from some Arab states.
Trump himself said before his meeting with Netanyahu yesterday that as far as the Palestinians were concerned "They probably won't want it initially but I think in the end they will. It's very good for them, in fact it's overly good for them. Without them we don't do the deal and that's OK."
Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, has rejected the plan in advance, and reportedly refused to take a call from Trump yesterday.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 28, 2020
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