The American ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, has warned Israel against unilateral actions to extend sovereignty to Jewish settlements in the West Bank. On his Twitter page, he called on the Israeli leadership to wait for the launch of a joint commission that will discuss this issue as part of the “deal of the century” proposed by US President Donald Trump.

“As the United States has previously stated, the spread of Israeli law into territories that, according to the plan, will become part of Israel, can only happen after the completion of the mapping process by a joint US-Israeli commission. Any unilateral actions before the completion of the commission’s work jeopardize the plan and recognition of the United States (Israel’s actions to extend its sovereignty. - RT ), ”Friedman wrote.

Controversial Mapping

On February 8, during a meeting with residents of the city of Maale Adumim, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that authorities had already begun to draw up maps of areas in the West Bank that, according to Trump's plan, should become part of Israel.

These territories were occupied by the troops of the Jewish state during the Six Day War of 1967. In the same year, the UN Security Council recognized them as "occupied." Palestinians call the West Bank part of their future state and insist on the return of all the lands lost after the war. Despite this, Israel created several settlements in the West Bank.

Reuters links Netanyahu's announcement in Maale Adumim with the campaign. March 2 in Israel will be held nationwide elections, the results of which he expects to maintain the post of prime minister. As the agency clarifies, Netanyahu is currently leading the interim government, whose legal authority over the “annexation” of the West Bank has not yet been determined by the judiciary.

However, after a warning from Friedman, speaking at a government meeting on February 9, Netanyahu emphasized that the Jewish state was not going to jeopardize Trump’s "deal of the century."

At the same time, he did not deny that the "Israeli team" is already mapping "territories with a perimeter of 800 km." It follows from his words that later American specialists will be involved in this work.

After this, the map of the West Bank should be approved by the Israeli cabinet. However, as Friedman told reporters on February 9, the US-Israeli commission may not have time to draw up a map of this region before the election.

In late January, Washington published over 180 pages of the text of the "deal of the century", which is designed to put an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It provides for the establishment of a Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem. At the same time, Trump promised that the territory occupied by the Palestinians should be doubled and that if the conflict is resolved, the state will receive $ 50 billion from Washington.

In exchange, Palestine must recognize the sovereignty of Israel over large settlements on the West Bank (Judea, Samaria) and the Gaza Strip. The Hamas movement must also be disarmed, and the territory of the Gaza Strip must be demilitarized. In addition, the document states that Jerusalem remains the "indivisible capital" of Israel.

The US President believes that the plan presented may be the last chance for Palestinians to gain statehood.

  • Jewish settlement in the West Bank
  • Reuters
  • © MENAHEM KAHANA

In the Arab world, the deal of the century was extremely negatively perceived. In particular, the head of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mahmoud Abbas, accused the United States of trying to bribe Palestinians, enforcing “their laws” and striking out “all international norms.” February 11, he should take part in a meeting of the UN Security Council on Middle East settlement.

As Palestinian Permanent Representative to the World Organization Riyad Mansour said earlier, a resolution condemning the "deal of the century" will be submitted to the Security Council. The text of the document will be agreed with the Arab States. The diplomat noted that the resolution will have “harsh language.”

“We know that it will be blocked by a veto. But we want to show that the entire international community expresses a single position, which we all uphold and voiced by the UN Secretary General, ”RIA Novosti quoted Mansur as saying.

In a conversation with RT, MGIMO senior researcher Yuri Zinin called the predictable reaction of the Arab world. According to him, the Washington plan contradicts UN resolutions on which the process of peaceful settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict is based.

The expert emphasized that the “deal of the century” does not solve key problems - security issues, adequate territorial-administrative delimitation of the two states, and the return of refugees. In particular, Zinin called Trump’s promise to increase Palestinian territory as “fiction”.

“On a Trump Twitter map, two isolated desert regions are attached to Palestine. The plan, of course, says that all Arab enclaves will be connected by roads, but they will pass through Israel, and that, in turn, is unlikely to agree to this. This idea has been discussed since the 1990s, and Israel has always been against it, apparently fearing that it would not be able to control the movement of Palestinians, ”Zinin explained.

Election vanity

Experts explain the inconsistency between the US and Israel on the “deal of the century” regarding the work of the joint commission on drawing up a map of the West Bank in a hurry from Netanyahu. The status of these territories is a "very sensitive issue" for the prime minister personally and the leadership of the Jewish state as a whole.

In a conversation with RT, Konstantin Truevtsev, a senior researcher at the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that Netanyahu is trying to earn political points in the run-up to the election and minimize the negative effect of corruption scandals.

Currently, the Israeli Prosecutor General’s Office is investigating three criminal cases of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, of which Netanyahu is involved, the expert recalled. The head of government hopes that parliament will protect him from prosecution.

  • Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops
  • AFP
  • © ABBAS MOMANI

“If he loses the election, he may lose his immunity. Therefore, now Netanyahu urgently needs to take some steps that will be positively perceived by the electorate. In such a situation, he is apparently ready to act contrary to the agreements with Washington, ”Truevtsev argues.

The expert explains Friedman’s warnings about the inadmissibility of unilateral steps on the part of Israel by the fact that Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is called the unofficial architect of the “deal of the century”, insists that Israel take the time to resolve the territorial issue.

“Kouchner believes that the Palestinians should be given from six months to a year to think and discuss the terms of the plan. He hopes that they will eventually accept the deal. Therefore, the American position in this case is different from the Israeli one, ”Truevtsev explained.

A similar point of view is shared by Yuri Zinin. According to him, the United States does not intend to rush the implementation of the deal, hoping that the Palestinians will succumb to pressure. At the same time, Israel fears that in the event of the defeat of Trump in the presidential election in late 2020, Washington may curtail this project.

“Israel’s interest is to launch the mechanisms prescribed in the deal as soon as possible, especially on territorial issues. This is fully in the interests of the Israelis. They reckon that even if Trump loses the presidential race, it will be impossible to reverse the deal. However, it seems to me that it is not very viable and will stall regardless of the election results and Israeli efforts, ”Zinin emphasized.