AMP opposes Trump’s ‘deal of the century’

January 27, 2020 (Washington, DC)--President Donald Trump is due to release the outlines of his long-delayed so-called Israeli-Palestinian “deal of the century” today and tomorrow in a series of meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leading Israeli political opposition figure Benny Gantz.

The fact that Trump is choosing to release his plan as if it is a bilateral negotiation between the United States and Israel with the details to be agreed between different Israeli political parties demonstrates the extremely one-sided nature of the plan. 

“The outlines of this plan are a recipe for more bloodshed, prolonging suffering in the Holy Land and across the Middle East. This is not a recipe for peace. The Trump administration in essence has embraced the stringent ideological positions and policies of Israel's extreme right, acting as a conduit to channel these policies rather than policies based on human rights and international law," stated Osama Abuirshaid, Executive Director of American Muslims for Palestine. "Therefore, this plan is dead on arrival. No Palestinian leader can accept it. And if any does, the Palestinian people will not, as it liquidates their rights that are enshrined by human rights and international law." 

The PLO has rightfully been avoiding any diplomatic engagement with the Trump administration following a series of unprecedentedly anti-Palestinian steps taken in recent years by the United States, including recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the US embassy there; shutting down the PLO embassy in Washington, DC and the US Consulate General in Jerusalem, which for more than one century had served as an independent conduit for diplomatic relations between the United States and the Palestinian people; ending US funding for UNRWA and bilateral economic assistance to the West Bank and Gaza Strip; and reversing US policy that had previously deemed Israeli colonization of the West Bank to be illegal.

The contours of Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ are expected largely to fall within this inimical pattern of anti-Palestinian policy. According to various media reports, Trump’s plan will permit Israel to annex most or all of its illegal settlements in the West Bank along with most or all of the Jordan Valley, leaving Palestinians with only a very truncated “state” in the remainder of the West Bank. However, any such “state” would be completely devoid of sovereignty, with media reports stressing that the “state” would not be able to establish an army, have control over its airspace, sign treaties, or control its borders. Indeed, Israel’s annexation of the Jordan Valley would ensure that the “state” is completely surrounded and dominated by Israel. The Palestinian “state” would doubtlessly not be able to exercise true sovereignty in Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees would not be able to exercise their right of return.

In short, Trump’s “deal of the century” appears to endorse all of the most maximalist demands of mainstream right-wing Israeli politics and none of the most minimal Palestinian demands for freedom, justice, and equality. 

AMP unequivocally opposes any such plan and will redouble its efforts on Capitol Hill to continue supporting an expanding bloc of Members of Congress who are committed to Palestinian rights.

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