Donald Trump’s Peace Plan

In the beginning of the document which includes his peace plan, president Donald Trump states that throughout history there have been conceived several peace plans for the Palestinians and the Israelis, however, none of them took into account the actual situation. He claims his plan is different. Nothing could be further from the truth, though. Completely built from clichés and lies, the so called plan, just like the others before it, ignores the national aspirations and rights of the Palestinians. Even though Donald Trump claims the plan is realistic and achievable, it favours one side only - the Israeli.

H.E. The Ambassador of the Palestina State in Romania, Mr. Fuad KOKALY

19/02/2020 Region: Middle East Topic: Geopolitics and Geostrategy

Introduction

In the beginning of the document which includes his peace plan, president Donald Trump states that throughout history there have been conceived several peace plans for the Palestinians and the Israelis, however, none of them took into account the actual situation. He claims his plan is different. Nothing could be further from the truth, though. Completely built from clichés and lies, the so called plan, just like the others before it, ignores the national aspirations and rights of the Palestinians. Even though Donald Trump claims the plan is realistic and achievable, it favours one side only - the Israeli. Below we will approach every issue included in the US document, and will show how it ignores international law and the relevant UN resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Political Context

The Palestinians have been accused over the years of having rejected all the peace proposals and solutions presented to them. By contrast, Israel posed and was depicted by the media as the only party willing to settle and pitied for not having a peace partner to negotiate with. We have seen this pattern ever since 1947, when the UN adopted the first Partition Plan. The truth is that the so called peace solutions have always been designed to disadvantage the Palestinians. In 1947, the Jewish people who had immigrated to Palestine from Europe and from the neighbouring Arab countries represented one third of the Palestinian population and owned 7% of the territory; however, the UN gave them 55% of the land to establish their own Jewish country. Of course, the Palestinians, who were much more and owned most of the land, disagreed. The Zionists brought their newly formed armed forces and conquered yet another part of the territory designated by the UN for the Arab state. A large part of the Palestinians fled the country and found refuge in the neighbouring countries, most of whom continue to be refugees to this day (Israel has always opposed their return).

Nowadays, in 2020, benefiting from Trump the saviour’s protection, Israel is where it was before. Posing as the victim again, claiming it wants peace while the Palestinians keep opposing it, and forgetting one simple thing: there can be no peace without justice. Israel claims it has to give territory in order to make room for the new Palestinian state, while the truth is the Palestinians have been asked all the time, ever since the beginning of the conflict, to give up their mother land and make room for the newcomers. The conflict between the two sides is indeed a very delicate subject and a cause for instability in the Middle East. As long as there is no peace in the Holy Land, there will always be tensions in this all so fragile and worn out region.

All the solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were based on the existence of two states - an Israeli state and a Palestinian one. Being addressed in Camp David and Oslo, the problem with the two state solution is that it lacks realism. Israel claims it has always wanted peace, but its actions have always proved otherwise. If Israel had wanted a Palestinian state as its neighbour, it wouldn’t have built all those Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which disrupt the territorial continuity of a hypothetical Palestinian state. Israel did not want the existence of a neighbouring Palestinian state 70 years ago, as it did not want it 20 years ago and does not want it now. It is easy to speak and say words, they cost nothing. If your actions don’t stand by your words but even more, they are in contradiction, then boasting that you are a visionary and an innovator is in vain.

Donald Trump’s plan doesn’t bring anything new, but the same old clichés delivered as a vision. It brings something new, though - clarity. This time we are plainly told: “a realistic solution, that would give the Palestinians all the power to govern themselves, but not the power to threaten Israel”. In case you didn’t understand, the mere existence of an independent Palestinian state is seen by Israel as a threat and this is why the latter opposes its establishment, this is why Israel imposes conditions which it knows the Palestinians would never agree to. As we continue reading the document drawn up by the Trump administration, things become more and more clear: the hypothetical state of Palestine will be made of scattered enclaves in the West Bank, connected by tunnels and bridges, with Israeli settlements in between, and Israel will be responsible for the security of the whole area. So good bye to West Bank demilitarization, military checkpoints will never cease to exist, the Israeli Armed Forces will continue to be omnipresent, ensuring security by land and from the air.

We once again find out how the Palestinians are responsible for their own fate. We take a look at the Gaza Strip, which we are told is controlled by the terrorist organisation Hamas, at blame for the blockade that has been suffocating the territory for more than ten years. First of all, we must clarify that Hamas is not a terrorist organisation. Hamas is a “terrorist organisation” only because the USA and Israel call it that way and we know that the USA decides who is a terrorist on this planet and who is not. Hamas is a “terrorist organisation“ only because once in a while, when the noose around the Strip is too tight, it launches a home made missile at Israel. No, Hamas is first and foremost a movement of resistance. The Fourth Geneva Convention states that any population under military occupation has the right to defend itself both by non-violent means as well as by military force. So, the Palestinians have both the moral and legal right to oppose occupation any way they can. Hamas has made use of “martyrdom”, suicide bombings, but ceased doing so ever since the blockade. In 2006, Hamas democratically won the elections in the Strip, so, the will of the people made it possible for Hamas to govern the region. And Hamas hasn’t conducted any military operations against Israel beyond Gaza Strip ever since. All they did was to fight back against Israeli military offensives against civilians in the Strip. Moreover, the leadership of Hamas have given Israel, on multiple occasions, the chance for a long-term truce, which the latter refused.

The document drawn up by the Trump administration recognises the efforts made by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council in order to achieve peace, but it claims the plan is not based on their numerous resolutions. On the contrary we say, this Peace Plan violates the UN resolutions and ignores the international law. Starting with the UN Resolution 181 (the Partition Plan) and moving on to 242, 446, 452, 465, 471, 476, and up to 2334, Israel has violated all of them. The International Humanitarian Law that refers to occupied territories, as formulated in the articles 42 to 56 of the Hague Convention and the articles 27 to 34 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, clearly state that the occupant cannot claim sovereignty over the territories under occupation, cannot forcibly or willingly move the population in and out of the occupied territories, cannot transfer its own citizens in the territories it occupies, collective punishments are strictly forbidden, seizure of private property is forbidden, cultural property must be respected, and the citizens accused of breaking the law should stand trial according to the rules of international law (should be informed of the reason of their arrest, should be charged with breaking a specific law and should be given the right to a fair trial as soon as possible). Israel has repeatedly breached all these provisions; so, it comes to no surprise that Mr. Trump says his Peace Plan is not based on the UN resolutions.

Other relevant resolutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

- Resolution 252 of the UN Security Council (1968) states the following: the UN Security Council “considers that all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, […], which tend to change the legal status of Jerusalem, are invalid and cannot change that status”.

Territory, Self-Determination and Sovereignty

Transition to statehood is complex and full of dangers, says Donald Trump’s document. The region cannot take another failed state, another state which violates human rights and international laws. Does he mean to say that the region cannot take another state besides Israel, which could do these things? For Israel is far from being a democratic state (how can a state be democratic when it wants within its borders only citizens of a certain religion?) and, as I have shown here several times, it broke international laws just as it saw fit.

We are again reminded of the sacrifice Israel has to make, how it has to give up territory so that the Palestinians can have a state of their own too. In other words, Israel is negotiating a territory which did not belong to it in the first place. Those who always had to compromise and sacrifice were the Palestinians. Starting with 1947 and during the war in 1967, the Palestinians lost more and more land and their expectations of having a state of their own lowered more and more, especially as the Jewish settlements on their land multiplied. And now, Donald Trump tells us the Palestinians would have a viable state, would regain their dignity and would be able to pursue their legitimate national aspirations, when in fact Israel won’t withdraw from the territories it conquered during the war, claiming that such a withdrawal would be historically unheard of. This means that obeying international laws is also unheard of, Mr. Trump, since Article 42 of The Hague Convention clearly states that a territory is considered under occupation when effectively under the authority of a hostile army, and the UN Security Council 242 resolution starts by highlighting that it is inadmissible to acquire a territory by war, which means that Israel cannot claim that the territories obtained during the 1967 war belong to it.

The so called Palestinian state envisaged by Trump would be made of small Bantustans - just like in South Africa during the apartheid - connected by tunnels, surrounded by Israeli colonies and without a shred of authentic sovereignty. The existence of a hypothetical Palestinian state is conditioned by a series of demands such as Hamas’ disarmament, the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state (thus destined only to Jewish citizens) and the establishment of a Western style government and legal system. A very important nuance refers to Israel as an all Jewish state. Israel, as an independent and sovereign state was recognised by the Palestine Liberation Organisation in 1993, when the Oslo Accords were signed. Recognizing Israel as a Jewish only state is an entirely different matter. It is like saying that the USA is a country for “whites only” or that Romania is a country for “Christians only”. So, Israel wishes racism were recognized as state policy. What of the Israeli citizens of Muslim or Christian religion? Will they be thrown out? Killed? What Trump suggests is a second Nakba; another large scale catastrophe for the Palestinian people. Trump knows the Palestinians will never agree to this.

Another condition for a Palestinian state to be established is the cancellation of all educational programs (including schools) and books which incite violence and promote hate against their neighbours. Perhaps Israel would like to discuss how its school curricula and books spread propaganda and intoxicate the brains of the Israelis since infancy, promoting a false history, how they describe Palestinians as born terrorists, and how they spread hate among the young, starting from a very early age. In Israeli schoolbooks the Palestinians are marginalised and vilified, justification is offered for massacres and ethnic cleansing, and the Jewish/Israeli culture is presented as superior to the Arab-Palestinian one. Nevertheless, Trump is lecturing the Palestinians on how their school curriculum should look like.

Refugees

The issue of the Palestinian refugees came with the Arab-Israeli war in 1948, when the Zionist armies, which settled Israel on 77% of the Palestinian land forcibly expelled 800,000 Palestinians – about 57% of the total population at that time. The issue of the refugees worsened after Israel occupied the rest of Palestine, in 1967, when approximately 300,000 Palestinians were expelled by force. The issue of the Palestinian refugees is the most prominent refugee crisis, if we are to compare the number of refugees to the overall number of citizens. Besides, it is the longest refugee crisis in modern history, which, even though more than 70 years have past, hasn’t been solved yet.

More than half of the Palestinians live outside the historical Palestine. More than 88% of the Palestinians in diaspora live in Arab countries, natural hosts for the Arab Palestinians. Most of the Palestinian refugees live in countries neighbouring Palestine - Jordan, Syria and Lebanon host 80% of them. Many Palestinians also live in the Gulf countries, especially in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

On the 11 December 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 194, which affirmed the right of the Palestinian refugees to go back to their homes and mother lands. The choice was left to the refugees not to others, the resolution allowing them to choose what they saw safer - to return or not. Moreover, a UN commission was created with a view to facilitate the refugees return and their economic and social rehabilitation, as well as to ensure the necessary reparations.

This resolution was reiterated over the years, because Israel continued opposing its implementation. Israel refused to take responsibility for the Palestinian Nakba, so any discussion referring to the refugees became taboo. Nevertheless, the UN, more precisely the UN Security Council didn’t make any effort to pressure or force Israel to implement the resolution. It granted Israel membership status under the condition that it allowed the return of the Palestinian refugees, which Israel never agreed to.

Trump’s plan clearly says that there will be no return of Palestinian refugees to Israel. Israel knows that if it agrees to the return of even a part of the refugees, the Jewish people will become a minority in their own country, and this is inconceivable to them. Trump’s document mentions that Israel would accept 5,000 refugees a year for a period of ten years; a total of 50,000 people. However, according to the US peace plan, the refugees have three options: to become citizens of the countries they currently reside; to rebuild their lives in a third country, or to move to the newly formed Palestinian state. They won’t have the right to return to Israel.

On the other hand, they are trying to distract our attention from the problem of the Palestinian refugees by bringing up the Jewish refugees from the Arab-Israeli conflict. We are suggested that it is the duty of the Arab countries to receive the Palestinian refugees, when in fact it is Israel’s duty to agree to the return of all Palestinian refugees who wish to do so. The issue of the refugees hasn’t been and isn’t the biggest obstacle in the way of a peace solution; it can be solved a lot easier than other issues, such as that of the settlements, and this is due to the fact that many refugees have made a life of their own in other countries, which they are not willing to leave. So a mass return is out of question. It is a matter of principle. Israel must assume the moral and legal responsibility for the injustice in the past. Why can the Jewish refugees, who left 2,000 years ago, return, and the Palestinians who were cast away in 1948 cannot? The Israelis are trying to pose as victims of history and they wish to be the only ones.

Gaza Strip

The Gaza Strip was born out of the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe). Before 1948, the “Strip” didn’t exist as a geographical entity. Before 1948, Gaza was a “district”, a piece of land under the Mandate for Palestine, just as it was during the four centuries of Ottoman rule. By the end of the British Mandate, the Gaza Sub-district in 1948 had 1196.6 km² and was made of three major cities: Gaza, Al-Majdal (now Ashkelon) and Khan Yunis, besides other 53 towns and villages. All throughout history, the area of the Gaza District changed its size; however, for centuries, it kept most of the area which belonged to the Gaza Sub-district, until the eve of 1948.

During the war, Israel occupied territories beyond those designated for the Jewish state by the UN Partition Plan in 1947. The Israeli forces conquered 78% of the Mandate for Palestine, including 70% of the Gaza Sub-district. The other 365 km² left in the Gaza district were given to Egypt, the first to use the term “Strip”.

Israel and the USA are making efforts to connect the Palestinian resistance to global terrorism, which is why they advance so much the idea that Hamas is a terrorist organisation and this is why they claim that disarming it is a condition for the Peace Plan to be implemented. If they cannot depict all Palestinian as terrorists (even though they have been trying), the least they can do is paint Hamas in these colours. Hamas is considered a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, but it is unjust to judge its position on the rule of law and democracy based on the narratives of the movement it originated from. Hamas claims to have embraced new beliefs regarding this aspect and it has come to fully acknowledge the concepts of democracy and rule of law. By taking part in elections it has proven its willingness to function in a modern state and a democratic system. It has even demanded for coalition governments incorporating secular and left-wing parties. Its government, as well as its list for the parliament included women, and its first government had both Muslim and Christian ministers.

Trump and Israel want to make us believe that Gaza is a victim of Hamas, when in fact the small piece of land has been the victim of the Israeli blockade for more than ten years. Israel, not Hamas controls the borders, so it decides who and what comes in and out of the Strip; Israel is the one who deprives the population of water and electricity, medicine and food. Gaza suffers from an utter humanitarian crisis and what goes on there suggest a name - genocide.

The proposal to redraw Israel’s borders doesn’t do anything but give the Israelis even more Palestinian land from the West Bank, in exchange for two areas in the Negev desert (where nothing grows). Just as the proposed map shows, the Plan gives Israel a large piece of land in the West Bank where a number of Jewish settlements reside. According to international law, these settlements are currently illegal and are not considered part of the present-day Israel. Numerous UN resolutions have affirmed that the establishment and existence of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are a violation of international law, including the resolutions 446, 452, 471, and 2334. The UN Security Council resolution 446 states that the Geneva Convention is applicable and demands Israel to stop transferring its population into occupied territories, or change their demographic structure. The resolution 2334 in 2016 reaffirms the illegality of the settlements and calls them “a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-state solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace”.

The enclaved Palestinian population will remain inside Israeli territory, but will belong to the Palestinian state, says Donald Trump’s Plan. The security of the enclaves and access routes will fall under Israel’s responsibility. In other words, if the Palestinians want a state of their own, let’s give them some crumbles so they can call it a country. We will get the big piece.

The Jordan Valley, which stretches along the eastern coast of the West Bank, will be under Israeli control as well. This valley is an area highly populated by Palestinians and was occupied by Israel during the 1967 war, becoming the border with Jordan. It holds major Palestinians centres such as Jericho, and Israeli settlements too. Trump’s plan claims that Israel’s control over this area is a matter of security, and the presence of the Israeli army in the Jordan Valley is essential to protecting Israel from potential invasions. Again, we appeal to the same resolutions we mentioned in the case of the West Bank, which clearly state that acquiring a territory by war and moving people in and out of this territory is forbidden. The UN Security Council reaffirms that “the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-state solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace”. The UN Resolution 446 “affirms, once more, that that the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, is applicable to the Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem”. In the eyes of the international community, Israel’s presence in the occupied territories is subject to the international law dealing with military occupation, specifically with the Fourth Geneva Convention. It forbids legislative amendments, the transfer or the deportation of the local population and the occupation of the territory with its own citizens.

Trump recognises the importance of Jerusalem to all three major religions - Christianity, Judaism and Islam. However, he promises an undivided Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. A future Palestinian state would receive some outer neighbourhoods (Kufr Aqab, and the refugee camps of Shuafat and Abu Dis, united under the name Al-Quds - The Holy, which is the name attributed to Jerusalem, not to its outer neighbourhoods) to form its capital. The decision is huge. It is the main reason the entire Arab world rejects the peace plan of the US president. Jerusalem is important not only to Palestinians, but to the entire Muslim world. Over the years, Palestinian negotiators have asked for a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem. Now here comes Trump saying that the future Palestinian state will have Abu Dis as its capital, an urban extension separated from East Jerusalem by a border wall. It doesn’t have any religious significance or cultural depth, as Jerusalem does.

However, what is Jerusalem’s current status according to international law? The city of Jerusalem has always been part of the Palestinian territory and didn’t have a specific legal status until the Partition Resolution 181 in 1947, which proposed Jerusalem to be a separate entity under an international regime administered by the UN. During the war between the newly formed state of Israel and the Arab countries, the Transjordan Arab Legion, under British rule, defeated the Zionists, annexed the West Bank, renamed itself Jordan and declared East Jerusalem as its second capital. Despite the hostilities in 1948-1949, the UN tried to impose Resolution 181, before giving up this attempt in 1951. The option has always remained open. The UN agreed with the Jordanian annexation, listing in 1981 the Old City of Jerusalem as under Jordanian custodianship. However, Jordan occupying East Jerusalem in 1948 didn’t give it a legal right over it. Admitting to being weaker than the Israelis in the Six Day War, after 21 years of not being present, in 1988 Jordan gave up its annexation in favour of a Palestinian state. Currently it has no claim over Jerusalem.

Israel’s steps to integrate West Jerusalem in its territory and its actions, following the war in 1967, to reclaim its sovereignty over whole Jerusalem have been condemned at length by the UN resolutions and have no legal ground. The Israeli occupation of West Jerusalem, starting with 1948 has never been legally recognised, even though most countries recognize Israel’s authority over it. Israel has East Jerusalem under military occupation. According to international law, military occupation does not grant ownership. Moreover, UN Resolution 242 states that East Jerusalem is one of the territories Israel must withdraw from. The fact that Jerusalem has a special status - separated from Israel and the Occupied Territories - is accepted by the international community. The exact nature of this status is yet to be determined in the context of a final agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis. In the meantime, the sovereignty over the city is on standby.

Putting aside all these aspects related to international law and global consensus, on 6 December 2017 president Trump stated, on behalf of the USA, that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and initiated steps in order to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Nowadays, President Trump says again that Jerusalem should remain undivided and become the capital of Israrel. So, the Arabs who live in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital would have three options: to become citizens of Israel; to become citizens of the State of Palestine, or to keep their status as permanent residents of Israel (however, what Israel wants is a Jerusalem without Arab inhabitants, so it would make their lives miserable in order to make them leave). Jerusalem would be recognised internationally as the capital of Israel, and Al-Quds (or whatever other name the Palestinians would choose) would be recognised internationally as the capital of the State of Palestine. After the signing of the agreements, the US Embassy in Palestine would be opened in Al-Quds, in a mutually agreed location.

The status of Jerusalem is a classic example of utter violation of international law, tolerated by the international community because of the lack of implementation mechanisms, or better said because of the lack of desire to provide such mechanisms. This has allowed and allows Israel to completely ignore the international law and create a reality on the ground which sooner or later the international community will be forced to accept. And with Donald Trump’s help it is quickly heading in that direction.

The Israeli-US dream with respect to the Palestinian state? This is Donald Trump’s great vision: a completely demilitarised state, a state incapable of defending itself against any aggression from outside. Is there any doubt that this “plan” was only designed to fail? Why was it conceived this way? Because the Israelis like the current state of things. The Israelis are happy with the present status-quo, as long as the USA has stated that the “settlements” in the occupied territories are legal, has moved the embassy to Jerusalem and the plans to annex the West Bank run smoothly.

“Peace can never take roots in an environment where violence is tolerated, funded and even rewarded”, said Trump. This is why we are being told that the Palestinians should be educated in this spirit of peace. Perhaps he would like to explain to us how he plans on educating the Israelis in this spirit of peace because, meanwhile, the Israelis are the occupier, the Israeli army is present on Palestinian territory where they dictate, the Israeli army is responsible for nocturnal raids and sometime arrest even children, without reason, the Israeli army orders houses to be torn down and properties destroyed, the Israeli settlers terrorise the native population showing off their machine guns, throwing stones at shepherds and farmers, shooting and running over animals and so many other similar acts of violence.

Israel poses as a victim again, states that all its wars have been defensive and complains that ever since its establishment it hasn’t known a day of peace with all its neighbours. Yes, this is what happens when you invade a country, when you expel its population to make room for your own, when you impose an occupational military regime on a territory which is not yours, people tend not to like you. Luckily there are the USA and Donald Trump to support their little brother. Actually, this is how Trump’s document justifies the annexation of the Jordan Valley - Israel needs this region to defend itself from possible threats from East. Furthermore, Israel says it fears that if it withdraws from the Jordan Valley, just as it has done in Gaza, it risks creating a suitable environment for terrorism. In this regard, the future Palestinian state must pledge it will fight against terrorism (American obsession) on all fronts, pass and implement legislation to forbid terrorist activities and organizations, punish those involved in such activities and cease rewarding and paying the families of those accused of terrorism.

What Israel and the USA seem to forget is that Israelis too have been involved in terrorist actions; however, we have to a blind eye on these. Even before the establishment of the state of Israel, Zionist militant groups (Irgun, Lehi) have executed a series of terrorist attacks against the British governing Palestine at that time, to make them leave the territory more quickly and thus allow the Israelis to establish the state of Israel. Does the name Baruch Golstein ring a bell to the Israelis? In case they forgot, he was a retired Israeli officer who entered Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron, murdered 29 people and wounded other 125 before he could be stopped. In 2015, two extremist settlers burned the house of the Dawabsheh family to the ground, orphaning a child and murdering an 18 month old. Terrorism knows no colour or religion. If the Palestinians must engage in the fight against Palestinian terrorism (even though what the USA and Israel call Palestinian terrorism is resistance against occupation, a right guaranteed by law), then Israel too must engage in the fight against Israeli terrorism.

Asking a country to have no army is absurd. The mere notion of statehood implies the ability to protect its own borders. This is why the UN insists on highlighting the fact that an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan must ensure peace and security for both states, within the established borders. Ironically, Israel is the one insisting so much on the right to defend its borders. Looks like the Palestinians cannot have the same right.

Donald Trump is asking the Palestinians not to have a military infrastructure, any kind of weaponry (anti-aircraft, missiles, mines, armoured vehicles, machine guns, laser or directed-energy weapons, military training facilities, or weapons of mass destruction). Israel, instead has one of the most powerful armies in the world. It is allowed to have all kinds of weapons. Besides, it shall retain the right to destroy any area on the territory of the Palestinians used to produce forbidden weaponry. It looks like, in case of an Israeli attack, the Palestinians are doomed to protect themselves as they have done until now, with slingshots and stones. And Mr. Trump still has the nerve to speak of how he would restore the Palestinians their dignity. What is this plan, if not a humiliation and a lack of respect for the Palestinians? A demilitarised country patrolled by the military of another is a colony. If Israel has the right to defend its borders, then the state of Palestine should have the same right.

“The Deal of the Century”, as it is called by Donald Trump generated various reactions from the international community. The Palestinians and their allies dismissed it right away, while the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the initiative of the US President. Turkey does not adhere to the US plan, calling it an “annexation plan aiming at usurping Palestinian lands and killing the two-state solution”. Jordan stated it supported the efforts “towards a just and global peace” which can only be achieved by establishing an independent Palestinian state within the borders set in 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Saudi Arabia appreciates Donald Trump’s effort but asks for direct negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

France expressed its conviction that the “two state solution”, in accordance with international law and with a set of guidelines agreed upon at an international level is necessary to establish a just and long lasting peace in the Middle East. Berlin reminded that only a “commonly agreed solution” can lead to peace. London sees Trump’s plan as a “serious proposal”, but insists that “only the leaders of Israel and of the Palestinian territories can say whether these proposals will satisfy the needs and aspirations of the people they represent”. Russia supports the need for direct negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians in order to reach an “mutually acceptable compromise”. The Romanian minister of foreign affairs, Bogdan Aurescu stated that Romania would look into the plan and would continue supporting the two-state solution.

It is difficult to say what is more offensive - the countless breaches of international law which Trump’s Plan contains, or the fact that the US President insists that this masquerade is a “peace” plan. Taking into consideration the present reality of the brutal Israeli occupation, any real solution must start with the cessation of this occupation. And yet, Trump’s plan does exactly the opposite. Instead of independence within their own territory, Trump gives the Palestinians a long line of prisons guarded by the Israeli Armed Forces and surrounded by Jewish settlements. Instead of granting the Palestinians access to their own resources, Trump’s plan allows Israeli settlers to steal even more from what rightfully belongs to the Palestinians. Instead of freedom for an imprisoned West Bank and a captive Gaza Strip, Trump’s plan throws away the key to the prison. Instead of ending the Israeli occupation, Trump’s plan seeks to make it permanent.

There is no serious response to this plan. The only thing which can be done is to expose this plan for what it is perceived by its victims - a crime; a crime not only against the Palestinians, but against the international community and against those who abide by the law.

Donald Trump’s Peace Plan

Picture no. 1 (Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Peace-to-Prosperity-0120.pdf)<span style="font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman",serif;="" mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-ansi-language:en-gb;mso-fareast-language:="" ro"="" lang="EN-GB">

 Donald Trump’s Map, which pictures an imaginary State of Palestine - in green. The numbered white dots represent the Israeli settlements which are to be annexed. The green dotted line represents the tunnel which would connect the West Bank to the Gaza Strip. The continuous green lines show the bridges and tunnels which would connect the Palestinian enclaves (between them).

Picture no. 2 (Source: https://twitter.com/MaajidNawaz/status/1222622367492530176/photo/1)

Palestinian territorial losses over time, starting with 1917, during the British Mandate and up to 2020, along with Donald Trump’s imaginary plan. In green is the Palestinian territory and in white is territory occupied by Israel, which has taken more and more land belonging to the Palestinians.