WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A well-known Israeli journalist revealed this week what he said were new details of the peace plan known as the Century Deal, Zogby said, citing doubts about the purpose of the leak.
An Israeli journalist said his information came from remarks he received from an American Jewish leader who was part of a small group of community leaders who heard a briefing from a senior Donald Trump administration executive two weeks ago.
Zogby, the president of the Arab American Institute, said he was waiting for the diversion after hearing about him. When he began to see him, he was expected to raise his anger, but that was not his reaction.
"After a two-year wait for the deal of the century, the remarks that were leaked from the deal presented by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to the late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat almost two decades ago, which were worse than the deal presented by Minister Former foreign minister John Kerry two years ago. "
| Deal serves Israeli interests, not Palestinians (Reuters) |
Elements of the transaction
Elements of the alleged deal include the creation of a Palestinian state on an area of 85 percent of the West Bank, as well as the exchange of land to compensate Palestinians for settlement blocs in the West Bank that will become the property of Israel.
The deal also suggests that Israeli settlements outside the borders of the settlement blocs will not be evacuated, but illegal settlements will be evacuated.
In addition, Jerusalem will be a shared capital, and Israel will receive West Jerusalem while the Palestinians receive some "Arab neighborhoods" in East Jerusalem, but old Jerusalem and the holy sites will remain under Israeli control.
It should be noted that the leaks did not address the mention of Gaza or the Palestinian refugees, nor were there any clarifications about Palestinian sovereignty over borders or resources.
As he read the notes, Zogby struggled to understand the way the Trump administration adopted such an unrealistic deal. He would not accept any Israeli government to concede 85 percent of the West Bank. No Palestinian leader would accept a deal that would suggest Israel could continue to control Some areas of occupied Jerusalem.
The interests of Israel
It is clear that this deal serves the interests of the Israelis more than the Palestinians, but what intrigued Zogby most was the recent comment in the remarks made by the Jewish leader that the White House official who proposed the plan urged the Israelis not to reject the deal and allow the Palestinians to They are the party rejecting them.
It is also clear that this plan was not serious enough to resolve this conflict. In fact, there seems to be a reason for this test balloon.
According to the writer, the only reason that would explain the leak and warn Israel against refusing the deal is to make Trump and the Israelis seem eager to convince the Palestinians, making the Arab countries more open to deal with Israel.
In the past, the Arab Peace Initiative made a commitment to normalize relations with Israel, provided that it withdraws from the territories it occupied during the 1967 war. There was also an agreed solution to the Palestinian refugee issue and the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
| The deal will ask Arabs to normalize relations with Israel (Reuters) |
The need for normalization
On the other hand, the "leaked deal" will ask Arabs to start normalization on the basis that Israel will not reject the idea, but will never implement it. In the end, relations will be normalized with the survival of the "rejectionist" Palestinians under occupation control.
The issue of Palestinian rights has never been a Trump priority. It is just a troubling issue that must be resolved in order to achieve the "century deal" aimed at bringing Arabs together with Israel.
In conclusion, the writer said that this deal will fail because it underestimates the Arab leaders. Recent polls show that regardless of all the issues that plague the Middle East, the Palestinian issue is a priority for all Arab countries, and the Arabs will not accept normalization of relations with Israel unless the conditions set by the Arab peace initiative are met.
According to the writer, there may be regional interest in Iran's intervention and the constant threat posed by extremist ideologies. But what the Trump administration has not yet absorbed is that normalization of relations with Israel without justice for the Palestinians will be in the interest of the Iranians and the extremists.