“Plot of the Century”, the continuation of US-Israel previous stratagems against the Palestinian people

On Sunday, 28 January, US President Donald Trump presented his promised “peace plan”, which claimed to put an end to Israeli-Palestinian dispute and establish peace in the Middle East.

From long ago, Trump has been bragging about his so-called peace plan and called it the “Deal of the Century”. However, going into details of this 181-page document shows that the “Deal of the Century” is not to bring peace but is a big gift by the US to the occupying Israeli regime and the continuation of the US policy on Palestine. No-one expected else but the plan was engineered so shamelessly that many described it in other ways, such as the “slap of the century”, by the head of Palestinian authority Mahmoud Abbas, the “joke of the century” by Israeli Haaretz newspaper, “big finger to Palestinains”, and “another bleak milestone” by the Guardian.

The plan was presented as an impeachment was ongoing at the US senate against Trump, who was facing the charges of “abusing power”. On the same day, the Israeli prosecutor-general formally issued an indictment accusing Netanyahu of “corruption”, “bribery” and “breach of trust”. Hence, some believe the main goal of presenting the plan at the very present moment is to distract public opinion from these scandals. However, the content of the “peace plan” is more important than the time of unveiling it.

The writers of the plan claim that it contains the prospect of peace between Israel and Palestinians. However, it indeed meets demands of one side of the dispute – Israel – and ignores almost all demands of the other side, the Palestinians.

The plan recognise Jerusalem as the “undividable” capital of Israel. In return, a village named Abu Dis, which is located behind eastern and northern walls of the city – which was erected by Israel after the second intifada would be the capital of the Palestinian state. Based on the plan, parts of the West Bank, as well as the Jordan Valley, Jewish settlements in the occupied lands and the Golan Heights all will be annexed to Israel. According to the map with the plan, Palestine would not have borders with other countries, except a border as long as 12 km between Gaza and Egypt. In other words, the future Palestine would be surrounded by Israel! It would be only the districts circumvented by Israel connected to each other through bridges, tunnels and the roads to be controlled by Israel. Furthermore, Israeli military bases would be built in five strategic points within the so-called Palestinian territory, and all the borders, including the airspace and ports, would be under Israel’s control.

In return for this big gift, Palestinians would be allowed to establish their independent state within Israel after they “prove” that they “deserve” this! Furthermore, they would have to recognise Israel, disarm Gaza and stop “terrorism” and supporting victims of Israeli security forces. Despite all these strict rules and ifs and buts, many Israeli right-wingers have called a Palestinian state a “blasphemy” and have vowed to prevent this.

The Palestinian refugees who left Palestine after 1948 would not be allowed to return to their homes but they can settle in Palestinian territory, be assimilated in host countries or get residence from other countries of the region. The Arabs of Jerusalem can choose to remain an Israeli citizen or adopt Palestinian citizenship. They, up to their choice, would be allowed to be a permanent resident of Israel but not a citizen of Israel or Palestine. And Palestinians would be paid a few million dollars to “improve” their economy.

Trump claimed at upon presenting the plan that Israel was taking long steps towards peace. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as was very joyful, immediately said he would put to vote the plan at Knesset (parliament) on Sunday, though, according to opinion polls, only a small minority of Israeli people favour the annexation of the Palestinian areas. However, apparently it was a misunderstanding! Because Kushner (Trump’s son-in-law and a designer of the plan) and Jason Greenblatt (the US envoy in the region and Trump’s representative in the “peace” talk) told media that the plan would not be launched before the formation of a special committee prior to the Israeli parliamentary election and the new government. Nevertheless, it was said on the news that apparently the approval of the Israeli cabinet is sufficient, and Netanyahu intended to put to the cabinet’s vote on Sunday and increase his chance for a win in the next election by the “minimum annexation” which covers 30 per cent of the occupied parts of the West Bank.

With the details of the plan gone public and even before Trump and Netanyahu speaking at the White House, Palestinian demonstrations and protests flared up in the West Bank and Gaza, as expected. The US government had notified this to the Americans residing in Israel on the day that the plan was to be introduced. Israelis in panic reinforced their military and security forces in the occupied lands.

Mahmoud Abbas called an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday night to discuss the issue. Abbas had described Trump’s scheme as the “slap of the century” and a plot that should be thrown into the dustbin of history. On Tuesday, he supported negotiations based on the UN resolutions but not negotiations sponsored by the US. Before that, the Palestinian authority had boycotted the US when it recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in 2017. Abbas also threatened to stop security relations with Israel and the US.

Countries of the region showed reacted differently. The UAE envoy attended the meeting for unveiling the plan and described it as “an important starting point for a return to negotiations”. Egypt did not reject it openly but cautiously asked Israel and Palestine to study the plan carefully to let the talks start. Saudi Arabia supported Trump’s idea for the solution of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute but stressed that all disputed issues should be resolved in a way to allow the progress of the peace process and securing Palestinians’ legitimate rights. Jordanian and Qatari foreign ministers welcomed the “efforts” for peace and said the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within 1967 borders and recognising eastern Jerusalem as its capital is the only way to restore peace in the Middle East.

A reason for such reactions to Trump’s initiative is the increasing economic and political dependence of the majority of the reactionary countries of the region on the US. This causes them to be cautious in dealing with the US and its regional ally Israel. For instance, Saudi Arabia, amid a rivalry with Iran, has come closer to Israel and the US in recent years. Some other countries, such as Jordan and Egypt, receive the US aids. Egypt has received 1.6 billion dollars annually from the US since 1979 which is mostly spend in military.

Nevertheless, the Arab League (consisting of 22 principal members and four observers) issued a statement after its Saturday meeting which had been held at the request of Mahmoud Abbas. The statement rejected the US-Israel “Deal of the Century” and said it did not meet the basic right of the Palestinian people. It is the “violation of Palestinians’ legitimate rights and the denial of the continuing occupation of Palestine since 1967”, the statement added. It goes without saying that some Arab states voted for the statement only because of their fear from their public opinion which still supports the Palestinian people’s rights.

Iran and Turkey immediately opposed the plan. These two countries, with their expansionist and interventionist policies and scaring Arab states, as well as supporting reactionary Islamist forces and even forming and arming them, pushed reactionary Arab states to come closer to Israel and the US. Terrorist acts of these Islamist groups have provided the US with a pretext to designate the Palestinian people as “terrorists” and justify the suppression of Palestinians before the eyes of the world’s public opinion. This is a sad farce, reactionary rightists on a global level and reactionary Islamist forces in the Middle East have grown, and the two countries which have inflicted heaviest blows upon the Palestinian cause, boast to be the champion of defending Palestinians’ rights.

In Europe, Britain welcomed the plan, and other countries, such as Germany and France, and the European Union, each in their own language, stressed their commitment to the “two-state solution” and the UN Security Council resolutions. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov proposed that the representatives of Russia, the UN, and EU and the US examine the plan.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the UN was committed to help Palestinians and Israelis settle their dispute based on 1967 borders. The Amnesty International said some clauses of the plan violates international law and encourages Israel to trample Palestinians’ rights.

Many criticised the absence of Palestinians in writing the plan as if they were present in previous talks and deals and they have gained much then! If we don’t go back too much in history and just start our review from 1980, when Israel formally annexed East Jerusalem and some international bodies condemned it for the decision, the US continued its financial and military support for Israel. In 1993, a limited autonomy was granted to Palestinians according to Oslo agreement but the agreement was silent on giving back the occupied lands or at least the stop of building new settlements. The first plan for the creation of an independent Palestinian state was set forth by Clinton in 2000. However, the plan asserted that a large number of Israeli settlements, as well as all Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem, would be annexed to Israel. The Palestinian state would not have an army according to the plan, and it would be up to Israel to remove its bases in the occupied lands.

Some say that the “Deal of the Century” is a US’s brake of its former policy of mediation between Israelis and Palestinians. On the contrary, this plan has roots in the US former policies and the continuation of its traditional role, the same policies which, in cahoots with American legislators from both Republic and Democratic parties and influential Jewish capitalist lobbies have been in action for many years. In recent years that Israel gradually occupied the West Bank and accommodate more than 600,000 settlers this was the US that provide Israel with diplomatic support and prevented the prosecution of Israel’s crimes by its vetoes, military aides and billions of dollars of annual grants.

In the US-sponsored plans, Palestinians have never had equal and real rights. In the Trump’s present plan the same lines have been followed, that is, the denial of Palestinians’ basic rights and asserting their submission to Israeli Jews and the continuation of suppression and discrimination against Palestinians, imprisonment, torture and the massacre of Palestinians and confiscating their lands and prolonged homelessness. This means living under most intolerable conditions.

In fact, Trump’s plan is the unmasked policy of the US and the West towards Palestinians rights. It is the last version of the current reality, a reality made by Israel with the economic and political support of the US while international bodies satisfy themselves with faint and fruitless condemnations. It is not surprising that most of media outlets do not point to the presence of the supporters of and funders of Israeli settlements who back the policy of more annexation of the occupied lands. According to a Palestinian negotiator in Washington Post, the US proved once again that it is itself a part of the problem.

Many leaders of Middle-Eastern and Western countries encourage Palestinians to come to talks but they don’t say talking about what. On a plan which does not recognise any of their demands and rights? To sign their surrender to the religious reactionary occupying Israel? Trump acknowledged at the ceremony for introducing the “Deal of the Century” that the plan would “thwart the danger of a Palestinian state for Israel”. No more clearly is possible! This plan is not about the two-state solution, which is favoured by Palestinians, but wants to create a territory besieged by a country and under the military, security, economic and political control by an occupying regime, just with a bit more autonomy. The “Palestinian state” referred in the plan is much alien to the Palestinians’ understanding of an independent state. With the passage of long years and despite various UN Security Council resolutions and condemnations and empty supports by Western and even regional countries for Palestine, the Palestinian people have not come closer to a two-state solution even one step. However, on the other hand, with the rise of ultra-right across the world, the glimmer of hope for this cause will be dimmer than ever, if the hope is put only in the mediation of Western countries and reactionary countries of the region. The only solution is to intensify and continue the struggle, which has survived after generations. However, this struggle should be completed with the support of the working class and progressive and left forces and peace-lovers in the world, especially inside Israel. An important step is to isolate reactionary Islamist forces among the Palestinian people because these forces have marred the reputation of the heroic struggles of Palestinian masses and have sowed the seed of division among the people. These reactionary forces are toys in the hands of Israel and the US, other imperialists and reactionary to countries which help them spread Palestine-phobia among supporters of Palestinians’ struggles.

Artcle from KAR No. 857 Organ of the Organisation Fadaian (Aghaliyat)

February 2020