On Tuesday, President Donald Trump released
his long-awaited plan – what he is calling his “Vision” – for ending
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The plan includes detailed proposals
on the major areas of contention such as borders, land swaps,
Jerusalem, security arrangements, refugees, conditions for Palestinian
statehood, and the status of Jewish enclaves in Judea and Samaria.
The Times
of Israel and the Jerusalem
Post offer good summaries of the main provisions.
The RJC strongly endorsed the plan. RJC National
Chairman Norm Coleman described it this
way:
The President’s vision recognizes the aspirations and
potential of the Palestinian people to become an independent and
prosperous neighbor in the Middle East. It offers them a realistic
path to achieve that goal. But it does not compromise on the
requirements that the Palestinians reject terrorism, stop inciting
violence, stop their indecent “pay for slay” program that pays
terrorists for their crimes, and end corruption and human rights
abuses.
President Trump’s proposal offers challenging steps to both
parties, as well as the prospect of great achievements. If this plan
can be fully implemented, it will change the face of the Middle East
for centuries to come.
RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said:
President Trump and his team deserve our deepest gratitude and
respect for putting together this framework for a solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We thank President Trump and his White
House advisors, Jared Kushner, Jason
Greenblatt and Avi Berkowitz, along with
Ambassador David Friedman, Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo, and State Department Senior Policy
Advisor Brian Hook.
The President and his team have put together a bold and
nuanced proposal that is deeply rooted in America’s core values of
liberty, opportunity, and hope for the future. They have done what
others have tried and failed to accomplish for decades: they have
created a proposal with realistic and feasible steps toward a lasting,
peaceful solution to this terrible conflict. We applaud their efforts
and endorse their work.
Read the White
House briefing paper summarizing the proposals here.
The full plan is here. Watch the
remarks by President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White
House here.
The Palestinian response was unconditionally
negative, as the AP reports:
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said “a
thousand no’s” to the Mideast peace plan announced Tuesday by
President Donald Trump, which strongly favors Israel.
…“After the nonsense that we heard today we say a thousand
no’s to the Deal of The Century,” he said.
…“We will not kneel and we will not surrender,” Abbas said,
adding that the Palestinians would resist the plan through “peaceful,
popular means.”
The Islamic militant group Hamas rejected the “conspiracies”
announced by the US and Israel and said “all options are open” in
responding to the Trump administration’s plan….
Protesters [in Gaza] burned tires and pictures of President
Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Notably, key Arab states welcomed the Trump plan. Omri
Nahmias reports at the Jerusalem Post that Saudi
Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, and the UAE on Tuesday issued statements
welcoming the Trump administration's peace plan.
The Times of Israel reported today that, “Kuwait
and Morocco on Wednesday both gave a positive response to US
President Donald Trump’s plan for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, though [they conditioned] their support on acceptance [of]
the proposal by the Palestinians.”
Iran and Turkey rejected the plan.
Left-wing Democrats such as Reps. Ilhan Omar
(D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) also rejected
the plan outright. Left-wing Jewish groups such as The Jewish
Democratic Council of America, J Street, the New Israel Fund,
IfNotNow, and Jewish Voice for Peace denounced
the plan as being anti-Palestinian, despite the fact that it
offers the Palestinians a state and $50 billion in international
investment to build it.
Democratic
presidential candidates toed the left-wing line. They criticized
the plan for lacking Palestinian input, but in reality, the
Palestinians rejected every invitation to participate in the process
of developing the American plan.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) led a group of
Democrat legislators in signing a letter to the President, dated the
day the plan was released, calling it “a
recipe for renewed division and conflict in the region.” It's no
surprise to see the names of Sens. Sherrod Brown
(D-OH), Bernie Sanders (I-VT),
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Patrick Leahy
(D-VT), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) among the
signatories to the letter.
The “Deal of the Century” inspired many sharp, insightful
articles by thoughtful commentators. Here are a few that we recommend
to your attention:
