Washington, May 9 (RHC)-- The leaked draft of U.S. President Donald Trump's so-called peace plan shows that Palestine will be left with almost no territory as Israel will annex all illegal settlements.
The document, published by Hebrew-language news media Israel Hayom,evealed how delusional the “deal of the century” is.
The draft was circulated in the Israeli Foreign Ministry which is planned to be published next month after the end of Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The draft outlined a plan for a two-state solution which includes the creation of “New Palestine.” This new Palestine will not be allowed to have an army, share Jerusalem as the capital of both countries and all the illegal settlements in West Bank will be part of Israel.
If any party rejects the deal, the document warns of penalties by the United States, that would see cutting all aid to any party that rejects the plan and making sure that “no country in the world transfers money” to Palestinians if they reject the deal.
If the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) accepts the plan and Islamic Resistance Movement, known as Hamas, rejects, which is a greater possibility, “the U.S. will back Israel to personally harm leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad” in future conflicts meaning a U.S. backed war will be waged in Gaza.
The newspaper could not verify the authenticity of the document but some of the points in the draft are consistent with previous reports on the same. Prior to the latest leaks, the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah and Hamas in Gaza have already issued statements saying that such a plan would be rejected as it does not follow the previous international agreements that grant Palestinians a future state in pre-1967 borders.
The news leaks make it more likely that the agreement is doomed to fail before it is even released publically as most Palestinian factions would reject such terms that clearly favor the Israeli side.
The main points of the plan devised by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are listed below:
1. The agreement would be signed by Israel, PLO, and Hamas and according to which the "New Palestine" will be established in West Bank and Gaza with the exception of illegal Israeli settlements in West Bank.
2. The settlement blocs (around 62 percent of West Bank) will be annexed by Israel and extended to reach isolated settlements. The Jordan Valley (30 percent of West Bank) will remain under Israel. The draft does not mention what will happen to the 65,000 Palestinians who live in these areas.
3. Jerusalem will not be divided and shared by both the countries as their capital. Palestinian citizens in Israel will become citizens of the new Palestine. The Jerusalem municipality will be responsible for everything except education which will be under the purview of the new Palestinian government.
4. Israelis will not be allowed to buy Palestinian homes and vice versa and no additional areas will be annexed to Jerusalem. The holy sites will be untouched.
5. Gaza will lease lands to Palestine for building an airport, establishing factories, trade, agriculture, without allowing housing. Until airport and seaport are built, Palestinians are allowed to use Israeli airport.
6. Palestinians will not be allowed their own army or heavy weapons. Only light weapons carried by the police will be allowed. Israel will sign a defense agreement which guarantees the protection of Palestine from all foreign aggression. Palestine should pay Israel in exchange for such protection.
7. After the agreement, Hamas will surrender all its weapons and deposit them to Egypt. Hamas leaders will be paid salaries from supporting countries until a new government is formed which should be done within a year of forming the new Palestine.
8. Palestinian political prisoners will be released gradually for three years only after a government is formed.
The draft also mentions significant financial support from the U.S., Europe, and Gulf states to the so-called New Palestine, provided they agree to the deal. Around $30 billion will be received by Palestine over five years with additional support for specific development projects like building roads, from Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea.
Most of the funding will come from “oil producing countries.” Whether the mentioned countries already agreed to fund the new Palestine is not noted.