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“It’s not a plan for peace, it’s a plan for war.” - Ryan Cristan, The Last American Vagabond
“No one will support this [nonsensical joke of the century] except Israel and the United States under Donald Trump. [...] Even MBS, even the Saudis cannot endorse this farce, no Arab leader can endorse this farce, no Arab in the street will ever accept this, and no Palestinian will ever come forward and say, ‘yes, let’s talk about this’.” - George Galloway, former UK MP, in an interview on RT
“Still looking for a peace agreement from somebody, a real one. We have one we can’t quite trust yet. [...] Even a well known Jewish newspaper from Israel is saying it’s terrible, it won’t work...we strongly oppose it...it makes things a lot worse for the Palestinians.” - Ron Paul, former US Congressman and 2x presidential candidate, Ron Paul Liberty Report
“The President of the United States has proposed a war crime to resolve a conflict, that subjugates Palestinians into a permanent condition of unfreedom, and hails it as a peace plan, the deal of the century. That’s horrifying.” - Noura Erakat, human rights attorney, professor, and author, in an interview on The Gray Zone
Yes, it really is that bad; and the source videos for the above quotes will be embedded at the end of the post...
Even before Trump unveiled the details of the deal, it was evident that “Israel will be getting everything they want in the plan,” at the complete expense of the Palestinians. It was clear the deal was all about official US recognition of the ongoing illegal Israeli expansion of occupied Palestinian territory in the name of creating a peace deal so great that the Palestinians ‘just won’t be able to turn it down’. Then of course when they do turn it down, the US and Israel will be able to point fingers and say, ‘look, see, the Palestinians don’t want peace, they’re rejecting the best peace deal they’ve ever been offered!’ It’s not a new strategy, just a new ‘plan’ to push the same old Zionist agenda (Greater Israel Project).
Last week the Jerusalem Post described the deal as possibly “the most favorable ever presented to Israel,” and “a gift to Netanyahu.”
While the deal might be the most favorable ever presented to Israel, the perception is one of it being a gift to Netanyahu because it will be viewed through a political lens.
The plan was rejected outright by the Palestinians, while Palestinian leaders also reserved the right to withdraw from the Oslo Accords (the last Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement accepted by both sides) if Trump went through with unveiling the plan.
“The US administration will not find a single Palestinian who supports this project," the Palestinian foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday. "Trump's plan is the plot of the century to liquidate the Palestinian cause.”
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told AFP that: The Trump initiative will turn Israel's "temporary occupation into a permanent occupation" of Palestinian territory.
A statement released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry read: “...this is an annexation plan aiming to destroy the two-state solution and seize the Palestinian Territories.”
A spokesperson for the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement to SANA
that: Syria “expresses its strong condemnation and absolute rejection of the so-called ‘deal of the century’ which represents a prescription to surrender to the usurping Israeli occupation.”
On Monday, former US Ambassador Nikki Haley said in comments made in Tel Aviv that the #1 priority of the “Deal of the Century” is “the national security of Israel”; and the Times of Israel reported that she also declared the Trump plan may be ‘the last chance’ for the Palestinians.
On Tuesday, the long-awaited ‘Deal of the Century’ was publicly rolled out by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a White House ceremony.
Full presentation can be seen in the video below:
The so-called ‘peace’ plan is being hailed by supporters as the best opportunity for peace the Palestinians and Israelis have ever had. “My proposal presents a win-win for both sides," Trump said; and yet the details themselves demonstrate beyond any shadow of a doubt that Israel is the only winner in this farcical joke of a ‘deal’.
Notably, no Palestinian representatives were present at the ceremony, and in fact none were even invited, while instead the room was filled with a crowd of ultra right-wing pro-Israel Zionists and Neocons; such as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, VP Mike Pence, Jared Kushner, Sheldon Adelson, Jason Greenblatt, and the like.
This illustrates well the fundamental flaw with this deal, that it’s a plan created by and for the Israelis, paying lip service alone to the Palestinians. As Daniel McAdams of the Liberty Report points out: “The key problem with this deal of the century is that the Palestinians weren’t involved with it.” Jared Kushner, advisor to the most Zionist and openly pro-Israel President this country has ever seen, who is also a very close family friend of Netanyahu and a Jewish Zionist himself, was the primary author of the deal.
The essential points of the deal were pretty clearly laid out by Trump and Netanyahu. The plan recognizes complete Israeli sovereignty over the illegally occupied West Bank, Jordan Valley, Golan Heights, and the entirety of Jerusalem, including all “strategic areas” which are “vital to [Israeli] national defense” according to Netanyahu. In other words, it recognizes Israeli sovereignty over essentially the entirety of occupied Palestine, which leaves one to wonder just what the Palestinians get in return.
Trump even candidly listed off a number of major things he had already previously done specifically for Israel before making this deal, including moving the US embassy to Jerusalem (and declaring it to be the ‘eternal capital’ of Israel), recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the illegally occupied Golan Heights, and withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal.
Netanyahu repeated this list but added the US endorsement of illegal West Bank settlements, increased pressure on Iran, and even the recent assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani as US actions taken on behalf of Israel. If it wasn’t already glaringly obvious, it is about as clear as it can get that Trump is working directly for Israel, not America. Hence Netanyahu at the same time called Trump the “greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House.”
None of these actions by the Trump Administration were truly done for the reasons claimed at the time, but were rather all done “for Israel.”
Having acknowledged that he had done much for Israel, Trump declared that: “It wouldn’t be fair if I don’t do a lot for the Palestinians as well.” And while the President used all sorts of flowery words to describe the many things this deal would give the Palestinians as a part of “an independent state of their very own,” there really isn’t much substance at all behind the rhetoric.
Trump said that because “the Palestinian people are ready to escape their tragic past,” the deal will more than double their land, and will “give the Palestinians a capital of their own in eastern Jerusalem where the United States will put an embassy.”
But since Israel is to retain full sovereignty over an “undivided Jerusalem,” and will at the same time “maintain the status quo,” this promised capitol has little real significance. The current status quo is that Israel decides who will and will not be permitted inside Jerusalem and onto the Temple Mount, and when; and often rejects entry to Arabs, so the promise that anyone who wants to peacefully visit Al Aqsa Mosque will be permitted to freely do so is essentially meaningless. Furthermore, a future Palestinian state cannot have a capitol if its own that is contained within the sovereign territory of the state of Israel and fully under its control, and at the same time be considered an independent state with its own capitol, whether or not the US builds an embassy there or not.
The promise to give the Palestinians “more than double” the territory they currently have is just insulting, as every inch of Israel is stolen land and part of occupied Palestine, and this amounts to giving back a very small slice of stolen territory; which we already know will never happen, as Israel has made it abundantly clear they have no intention of ever relinquishing any territory it has ever seized or annexed, at any time. It is especially insulting being promised in the context of healing their “tragic past,” as this tragic past amounts to nothing less than the Zionist state of Israel running them off their lands and homes, and slowly stealing and occupying all of their territory, bit by bit, while never being willing to give even a square inch of it back to the Palestinians for the sake of peace. The map below shows just how much Palestinian land has been taken over time, and how much is currently under Israeli occupation; and doubling the current Palestinian lands doesn’t even appear to return ‘Palestine’ to its 1967 borders.
While Trump states Palestinian land will double under the deal, every illegal Israeli settlement is at the same time somehow to remain in place, making this promise impossible to achieve, practically speaking.
Trump claimed that “many, many countries” support this deal - “virtually every one [surrounding]”, and that many leaders expressed their support for the deal, but he can’t name a single one besides Boris. He does mention the King of Jordan, whom he says will help implement the deal; which seems absurd on its face, considering this same King of Jordan has long rejected Israel’s proposal to annex the Jordan valley - an act fully endorsed by this deal and planned to commence imminently - while Jordan’s Foreign Minister just recently warned that: Israel’s plan to annex the Jordan Valley would “destroy the two-state solution, ending all chances of achieving peace.”
Trump’s grandiose statements appear quite out of touch with reality. As does the official map of his two-state solution released on Twitter.
At the bottom, the fine print reads: “NOTE -Implementation of the Conceptualized Map subject to the terms of the Vision of Peace.” Terms that will never be accepted by the Palestinians, of course, and this had to have been recognized by Kushner. The deal is so lopsided there aren’t even terms for Israel, because the deal is giving them everything they are asking for!
It is apparently written into the deal that the Palestinians must negotiate a new ‘real’ peace deal with Israel after first accepting this proposed deal. Isn’t the whole point of a deal that, once agreed upon, the stipulations written into the deal go into effect? And isn’t a deal, by definition, something that is agreed upon by both parties and not forced upon one party without their consent? Such is evidently not the case with this very special ‘deal of the century’.
The Palestinians also have to first meet the specific “conditions of statehood” after accepting the deal, before they are then finally allowed to begin negotiating a final peace plan with Israel, in order to eventually achieve said statehood.
Israel gets everything it is promised immediately without having to give up anything besides making a promise to negotiate a future peace deal, while Palestinians get nothing at all until they jump through all the designated hoops, and only then will they even be allowed to the negotiating table to begin working out a deal - on Israel’s terms of course.
They must recognize Israel as a legitimate state as it exists on occupied Palestinian land, something a total of 31 UN-member states still don’t recognize. This is a very untenable requirement, considering the very existence of Israel on Palestinian lands, particularly lands seized in 1967 and beyond, constitutes an illegal occupation of Palestine as recognized by the UN and entire international community, and the recognition of this Israeli occupation negates the possibility of achieving an independent Palestinian state.
Gaza must be fully disarmed, something entirely antithetical to the notion of ‘Palestine’ becoming a sovereign state. So much for the whole “independent state of their own” Trump was promising. Israel of course need not disarm, and must not even give up their illegal nuclear arsenal.
Further, “the firm rejection of terrorism” is required by the Palestinians as well as stopping all activities by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and they must “permanently halt the financial support of terrorists”; which in other words means they must completely renounce armed resistance to the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands and ongoing war crimes being committed against their people before being allowed to begin the process of negotiating a peace deal. There is of course no mention of the well-documented Israeli “financial support to terrorists,” like Jihadi terrorists in Syria, nor is there a similar requirement that Israel must stop committing war crimes against the Palestinians during this process.
Finally, the “transition to a two-state system will involve no incremental security risk to the state of Israel whatsoever.” Israel routinely threatens the Palestinians and other neighboring Arab states and kills Palestinians in unprovoked attacks or wildly disproportionate military responses on an almost daily basis, and yet there is no similar requirement that Israel must not threaten or otherwise pose a ‘security risk’ to the Palestinians during this transition.
So while the Palestinians are being asked to compromise on absolutely everything including their right to be armed, a right every independent state has, Trump stated quite clearly that, “we will never ask Israel to compromise its security.”
Netanyahu even makes a point of stating that the Palestinians may well never make it past all the hurdles to the final goal of reaching the point Israel will then begin negotiating their so-called “independent state”.
“I know that it may take a very long time to get to the end of that path [to a future state],” Netanyahu said. “It may even take them a very long time to get to the beginning of that path.”
In reality, they will never be able to achieve an “independent state of their own” under this deal, because as Netanyahu points out, the deal “stipulates that Israel will maintain security control over the entire area west of the Jordan River,” which is the entirety of occupied Palestine, leaving no room anywhere for the existence of this supposedly independent future Palestinian state. The only ‘Palestinian’ state recognized under this deal will be one under the complete “security control” of Israel, meaning under Israeli military occupation, just as the remnants of Palestine are today.
Both Trump and Netanyahu repeatedly mention the Palestinians’ ability to achieve statehood under this deal, but not even once in 45 minutes of talking about it, is the state of ‘Palestine’ itself ever mentioned. This would be really quite astounding if it weren’t so obvious this is in no way meant to serve as a legitimate peace plan and two-state solution. This omission also appears to be quite intentional, as the leaders clearly go out of their way to avoid using the term at all costs. Israel has repeatedly made clear that they strongly oppose any valid two-state solution, that they will never accept a sovereign Palestinian state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and that they will never relinquish any lands seized and illegally occupied from 1968 to the present. This is why nearly every proposed peace plan in Israel’s short history has been a complete and utter failure, because Israel won’t compromise anything, while expecting the Palestinians to compromise everything.
‘Maintaining the status quo’ was an oft-repeated phrase and important underlying theme of this deal. Unfortunately for the Palestinians, the status quo means the continuous incremental seizure of Palestinian land and homes in the West Bank through illegal annexation, the continued inhumane siege of Gaza and intentional killing of unarmed protesters at the Gaza border fence during weekly ‘March of Return’ protests, routine deadly bombings in Gaza that continue to decimate the infrastructure, and regular subjection to racist and discriminatory apartheid laws and treatment throughout all of Israel and the occupied West Bank.
Trump offered Palestinian President Abbas’ government $50 billion dollars to capitulate and surrender, but it is unlikely that even a bribe of such a high value will convince him to agree to the absurd terms of this non-deal, despite Netanyahu’s quip that it takes a special kind of person to turn down that kind of money for his people. Even if Abbas did for some reason take it though, it wouldn’t make one bit of difference, as the Palestinians will never accept this.
Trump even managed to find time to get off topic just long enough to once again repeat the lie that, thanks to the US military of course, ISIS is now 100% defeated. “Not 95%, not 99%,” he said, “but 100% defeated.” This literally coming as the US continues to refuse to withdraw its troops from Iraq as requested by the Iraqi government - in the name of fighting ISIS! Will the imperial madness ever end?
Speaking of ISIS, in an apparent PR stunt timed to coincide with this ceremony, the Islamic State for the first time in its history announced it will now be waging war on Israel, because of the peace deal of course. The released statement urged Muslims across the region to attack Israel, and Jewish settlements anywhere and everywhere they are found. This isn’t a weird or suspicious development at all, and is probably entirely irrelevant...after all, they are 100% defeated...
For a complete and detailed breakdown of the entire presentation from start to finish, I recommend the report from The Last American Vagabond, as there was far too much absurdity, hypocrisy, and deception in this farcical presentation to cover it all in a written post. Full 3 hour show is below, first two hours covers the footage of the presentation:
One thing seems to be sure, that no one outside of the US and Israeli establishment is buying into this utterly nonsensical, absolutely farcical joke of the century ‘peace plan’. The UN has rejected it as flying in the face of international law and UN treaties that Israel is a party to. It is so absurd that there are even those within Israel who are able to recognize that truth. Did Trump and Bibi ever actually think anyone besides the two of them and their Zionist cohorts would take it seriously? Or do they just know they have the military might to do exactly what they want no matter the dismal level of public support they can garner?
“It is not a peace plan, and I am not sure that it is even a basis for a peace plan.” - Amos Yadlin, former intelligence chief of the Israeli Army
“There are no Palestinians at this press conference. No Palestinians were invited to the White House meeting about the plan. No Palestinian leaders were involved in the ‘process’ that led to this plan. The whole thing was designed to support the project of endless occupation.” - IfNotNow, Jewish activist group
The Last American Vagabond, Not a Peace Plan, a War Plan:
George Galloway on RT:
Ron Paul Liberty Report:
The Gray Zone: