New Middle-East Peace Plan To Give Israel Sovereignty Throughout Jerusalem, All Settlements

Trump plan said to give Israel sovereignty throughout Jerusalem, all settlements

By TOI STAFF

The Trump administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan — to be presented next week at the White House to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rival Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz — provides for full Israeli sovereignty throughout Jerusalem, for Israel to annex all West Bank settlements, and for no significant “return” to Israel of Palestinian refugees, Israeli TV reported Thursday night.

The plan constitutes “the most generous proposal” ever presented to Israel, the report said. US President Donald Trump subsequently dismissed as “purely speculative” reports on the details of the plan and the timing of its release.

It ultimately provides for a Palestinian state but under conditions that no Palestinian leader could conceivably accept, the TV report said. Channel 12 reported that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas does not know the details of the plan, and that it is regarded in Ramallah as “dead on arrival.” The PA has had no substantive dealings with the US administration since Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017.

Hinting at the imminent unveiling of the plan, US Vice President Mike Pence, who is in Israel for the World Holocaust Forum, said Thursday evening that Trump would host Netanyahu and Gantz next week to discuss the prospect of “peace in the Holy Land.”

Pence made the comments while sitting with Netanyahu, Israel’s Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman at the US Embassy in Jerusalem. Jared Kushner, the president’s Middle East peace envoy, had also been expected in Israel this week, but canceled his visit, citing weather in Davos.

Netanyahu said “the president is seeking to give Israel the peace and security it deserves.” He added, “I suggested that Benny Gantz be invited as well” to the White House.

Setting out the reported specifics of the plan, the TV report said, without specifying a source, that it provides for:

* Israeli sovereignty in all 100-plus West Bank settlements, all but 15 of which would be territoriality contiguous. (An estimated 400,000 Jews live in some 120 official settlements.)

* Israeli sovereignty throughout Jerusalem, including the Old City, with only “symbolic Palestinian representation” in Jerusalem.

* Were Israel to accept the deal, and the Palestinians to reject it, Israel would have US support to begin annexing settlements unilaterally.

* Palestinian will be granted statehood, but only if Gaza is demilitarized, Hamas gives up its weapons, and the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state with Jerusalem as its capital.

The TV report quoted unnamed Israeli sources specifying further provisions, including:

* No Palestinian role in any border controls.

* Full Israeli security control in the Jordan Valley.

* Israeli sovereignty in all “open territory” in West Bank’s Area C. The TV report said this amounted to some 30 percent of the West Bank.

* The acceptance of all Israeli security demands.

* Some limited land swaps in which expanded Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank would be exchanged for minor territorial compensation in the Negev.

* Possible minor absorption of Palestinian refugees in Israel; no compensation for refugees.