When US’ impulsive President Donald J. Trump announced his decision to move American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem - the city the Palestinians want as the capital of their elusive future state — it was widely decried as a measure that would jeopardize any peace prospects in the region. Expressing his dismay, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had said that “in this moment of great anxiety, I want to make it clear there is no alternative to the two-state solution. There is no plan B.” It turns out Trump did have a plan B, though it hasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of success.
According to reports appearing in the US and Israeli media, the plan prepared by Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, completely ignores the core issues of dispute. The Palestinians would have to forget East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, establishing instead their capital in a small West Bank village, Abu Dis. Illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian lands will stay, as also Israeli control over the entire Jordan Valley. And of course, Palestinian refugees, who were forced out of their ancestral homes when the Jewish state came into being in 1948, would have to stop insisting on their ‘right of return.’ Half of the West Bank will remain with Israel, and without physical connection to Gaza. The Palestinians will have to make do with a little over 11 percent of their historic homeland. Although Kushner has refused to talk “about the details of the deal we’re working on” he did say “we can attract large investments in the infrastructure from both the private and public sectors” to improve Palestinian economy. In other words, in his arrogance of power, Kushner, a real estate developer with longstanding personal connections with Israel — his firm has been contributing to the construction of illicit Jewish settlements — thinks the Palestinians can abandon their 70-year-long struggle against occupation, sacrificing thousands of lives along the way, in exchange for a few infrastructure projects and economic betterment.
No Palestinian leader can accept such a humiliating deal. As Palestinian Authority President Mehmoud Abbas rightly observed its objective is “to destroy the Palestinian national project.” Notably, right after Trump announced his recognition of West Jerusalem as Israeli capital, Abbas, once described by both US and Israel as a moderate and a suitable partner in peace negotiations, cut off diplomatic ties with Washington. Still, Kushner acknowledged in an interview that he had been passing on his messages to Abbas via intermediaries. Who these intermediaries might be is no secret. Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman is said to have been interceding on both US and Israel’s behalf — the common interest being roll back of Iran’s influence. Egypt’s Gen Sisi has already been helping Israel with its siege of Gaza by maintaining tight control at the Rafah Crossing. Jordan’s King Abdullah plays along because of his own insecurities. Try as they may, the Trump-Kushner plan is not going to go anywhere. It can only further destabilize the region, and add fuel to anti-American sentiments in the Arab world in particular and Muslim countries in general.
