[ ]J Street [ ]
Friend --

For three years, J Street has urged that no one mistakenly label the
document Jared Kushner, President Trump and Ambassador Friedman are
cooking up regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a “peace plan.”

A plan to resolve conflict or achieve peace demands engaging -- at a
minimum -- both parties to that conflict. It involves addressing claims
and concerns in a manner that allows both sides to feel they derive
benefit through agreement.

The Kushner/Friedman effort has not been a remotely legitimate attempt to
promote the interest of the United States in resolving the conflict or the
Israeli interest in gaining international recognition of its borders and
in enhancing its security. It hasn’t even pretended to engage with the
Palestinians. Instead, the administration has squeezed them economically
in a vain attempt to coerce concessions.

No -- the Trump team’s work must be understood for what it is: an effort
to enshrine as American policy the positions on the conflict held by
Israel’s settlement movement and its nationalist right-wing.

With election campaigns in high gear in both countries, it’s clear why
both Trump and Netanyahu are interested in releasing a proposal that plays
to their core political bases.

It's also clear why they would choose to schedule a high-profile meeting
on the plan on the very day one leader is standing trial before the US
Senate and the other faces a parliamentary debate over his request for
immunity from prosecution.

What a great distraction this White House event will provide for both
leaders.

Understanding the politics of the moment, the settlement movement and its
allies are trying to seize this unique opportunity to shift the goal posts
far to the right in the conversation about the conflict and its
resolution.

Though the proposal to be released has no chance of achieving peace or
resolving the conflict, its publication -- possibly in the next few days
-- will serve their cause forever as a significant milestone.

Such moments have shaped the discourse and framed the conversation
regarding this conflict for nearly a century: from the 1937 Peel
Commission and 1947 UN partition plans through Security Council
resolutions such as 242 and 338 -- and even American interventions such as
the release of the Clinton parameters in December 2000.

Sadly, this milestone will only mark a setback in legitimate efforts to
achieve peace.

We can’t predict with certainty the impacts of the proposal’s release.
Will it lead to an end to Palestinian security cooperation or even to a
collapse of the Palestinian Authority?

Will it lead to a break in the Jordanian-Israel relationship after nearly
three decades of peace? Will these developments snowball toward violence
and further bloodshed? Will Israel face even more trouble from
international organizations and more pressure from international boycotts?

One way or another, future American administrations and international
diplomats trying to help resolve the conflict will always have to deal
with this moment's legacy.

Those who care deeply about the state of Israel and its future should also
recognize the danger inherent in this moment of triumph for the Israeli
right. They intend -- with the acquiescence of a far too mild opposition
-- to leverage the Trump proposal and its certain rejection by the
Palestinians to realize their dream of unchallenged sovereignty between
the river and the sea.

If they are successful in implementing their vision, it would mean the
permanent subjugation of the Palestinians. Israel would lose any pretense
of being the "only democracy in the Middle East" and would instead face
international consequences for overseeing a system of different legal
statuses and rights for people based on ethnicity. 

This is no peace plan. It is a peace sham -- and its acceptance by Israel
will lead only to deeper conflict, loss of democracy and ultimately
international shame.

We'll be in touch in the coming days with updates and suggestions for how
you can push back against the #PeaceSham. Please follow us closely on
[ [link removed] ]Twitter and [ [link removed] ]Facebook for real-time news and analysis.

- Jeremy Ben-Ami


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J Street is the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans who want
Israel to be secure, democratic and the national home of the Jewish people.
Working in American politics and the Jewish community, we advocate policies that
advance shared US and Israeli interests as well as Jewish and democratic values,
leading to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.



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