Legal rights centre slams Trump plan’s proposed ‘forced transfer’ of Israel’s Palestinian citizens — Middle East Monitor (1/31)

Legal rights centre Adalah has slammed the Trump administration’s “peace plan” for its endorsement of the “forced transfer” of 260,000 Palestinian citizens of Israel. “Trump’s deal…is no more than an attempt to bypass international legal barriers and to ignore Palestinians’ right to self-determination, as well as United Nations resolutions, and recent statements from the International Criminal Court,” Adalah stated. The centre noted that “many aspects of the deal…are of grave concern and resemble South Africa’s apartheid government in place between 1948-1994,” Adalah cites examples such as “the recognition of historic Palestine as the homeland of the Jewish people only; no recognition of the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people based on the UN charter; and the creation of ‘self-governing’ Palestinian enclaves and bypass roads.”

Palestinians have indeed 'missed an opportunity' - to surrender to Zionism — Middle East Eye (1/31)

Palestinians don’t need Jared Kushner to civilize them. They need rights. — Vox (1/31)

The struggle for Palestinian freedom was denigrated, yet again, this week when the leaders of the US and Israel stood side by side at the White House and unveiled the Trump administration’s new “peace plan.” The plan was met with anger and skepticism from many sides. Top Democrats including Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Amy Klobuchar decried it as “one-sided” and said it “violates the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.” One former Israeli negotiator called it “an act of aggression dripping with the coarse syntax of racism. A hate plan, not a peace plan.” Much of the blame for the proposal’s one-sidedness has focused on President Trump and his cozy relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But the truth is that the plan is merely the formalization of a status quo with roots that far predate the rule of these two demagogues. Put simply, the plan is a brutally honest manifestation of Washington’s long-standing anti-Palestinian bias. And Palestinians worldwide know it. 

Jared Kushner taunts Palestinians because he wants them to reject his ‘peace plan’ — Mondoweiss (1/30)

Israel lobby prompts federal investigations over Palestine events — The Electronic Intifada (1/30)

How Arab leaders abandoned Muslim causes — TRT World (1/30)

US President Donald Trump’s unveiled peace plan, a promise to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in an even-handed manner, not only inflicts further humiliation and suffering on the Palestinian people but also grants Israel’s politically powerful settler movement its every desire in its promise to “finish off the Palestinian cause.” Instead of putting in place parameters or a road map to end one of the world’s most intractable conflicts, it sanctifies Israeli war crimes and violations of international law, while also resurrecting a system of grand apartheid not seen in a country with claims to democracy since South Africa in the 1980s. It’s no wonder the Palestinians have angrily rejected Trump’s plan, especially given they were excluded from the drafting of the proposal in the first place.