After several postponements, the American peace plan for the Middle East, dubbed the "very big plan" by Donald Trump, will be unveiled on Tuesday January 28 at 12:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. in Paris) by the President of the United States. United alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but in the absence of a Palestinian representative. This plan, hailed as "historic" by Israel, has little chance of succeeding as it is rejected beforehand, with force, by the Palestinians.
As if to better underline how close Washington has come to the Hebrew State under his presidency, Donald Trump will be accompanied, for this solemn announcement from the White House, by the Israeli Prime Minister, his "great friend" Benjamin Netanyahu, received as soon as Monday in the Oval Office.
The ambitious objective, entrusted to the son-in-law and adviser to the president, Jared Kushner, in the spring of 2017, is to concoct a proposal likely to lead to the "ultimate agreement" between Israelis and Palestinians: to succeed where all his predecessors failed. "We have been seeking peace in the Middle East for many, many, many years, decades and centuries. And that is an opportunity to achieve it," reaffirmed Donald Trump with Benjamin Netanyahu. , on Monday.
"I think it has a chance" to promote peace, he added, showing hopeful optimism despite the Palestinian Authority's categorical "no" saying that Washington no longer has the necessary credibility to act as a mediator after a series of decisions favorable to Israel. "We think that in the end, we will have the support of the Palestinians," he even dared to predict, betting on the support, far from being acquired, of the other Arab countries.
Mystery of a "Palestinian" project
The United States presented the economic component of its plan in June, which provides for approximately $ 50 billion in international investment in the Palestinian Territories and neighboring Arab countries over ten years. But the concrete details of this project remain the subject of speculation.
>> Read: Bahrain conference: "Without politics, no viable and sustainable economic plan in the Middle East"
According to the Palestinians, the American plan includes the annexation by Israel of the Jordan Valley, a vast strategic area of the West Bank, and of the settlements in the Palestinian Territories, as well as the official recognition of Jerusalem as the only capital of Israel.
Will there be a Palestinian state in the American proposal? The mystery remains. But Donald Trump and Jared Kushner have so far refused to use the term, breaking with the traditional position of the international community in favor of a "two-state" solution.
"Already dead"
According to senior Palestinian officials, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has in recent months turned down the President's offers of dialogue and said his plan was "already dead." And the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammed Shtayyeh, called in advance the international community to boycott the project, which he says is contrary to international law. "This is not a peace plan for the Middle East," he said, saying the initiative was aimed primarily at protecting "Trump from dismissal" and "Netanyahu from prison".
As a sign that the calendar is delicate, with a month of new elections in Israel where Benjamin Netanyahu is facing an indictment for corruption, the tenant of the White House also received his main opponent, Benny Gantz, on Monday. But it was with the first that he chose to appear in front of the cameras. And as every time he is in the presence of Donald Trump, the Israeli Prime Minister has not hidden his enthusiasm.
"Thank you for everything you have done for Israel," he said, citing the hard line against Iran, the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the Hebrew state, and the decision to no longer consider the Israeli settlements in the West Bank as "contrary to international law" - so many diplomatic turns that have turned the Palestinians.
Unanimous Rejection Among Palestinians
Saëb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said on Sunday that he reserves the right to withdraw from the Oslo accords, which frame their relations with Israel. Under the Oslo II interim agreement of September 1995 between the PLO and Israel, the West Bank had been divided into three zones: A, under Palestinian civil and security control, B, under Palestinian civil and Israeli security control, and C, under Israeli civil and security control. However, Donald Trump's plan "will transform temporary occupation into permanent occupation", denounced Saëb Erekat.
The American project was also rejected by Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave of two million inhabitants geographically separated from the West Bank, where the authority of Mahmoud Abbas is limited.
Islamist movement leader Ismail Haniyeh has warned of a "new phase" in the Palestinian struggle against the Israeli occupation.
With AFP
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