The Trump administration has dealt another blow to the the flailing Palestinian Authority (PA) in the form of more budget cuts, this time to the PA’s security forces. It is understood that future funding is contingent upon the PA accepting Trump’s “peace plan” that was released two weeks ago, which they have categorically rejected.
US President Donald Trump is set to release his long-awaited “deal of the century” peace plan in the coming days. It is expected the plan will extend Israeli sovereignty to settlements in the West Bank, in addition to annexing the Jordan Valley.
The myth that the Palestinians keep “missing opportunities” for peace is being revived from Jared Kushner, to Tony Blair, to Mohammed bin Salman.
Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen TV published details on Monday from a reportedly leaked draft of the Trump administration’s Middle East peace plan, or “deal of the century,” marking a second time this year unconfirmed documents have revealed plans to establish a demilitarized state of “New Palestine” alongside Israel.
If supporters of a two-state solution are unable or unwilling to come up with a plan then Israel, with the full support and encouragement of the Trump administration, will very soon have the distinction of being not just the world’s only Jewish state, but the world’s only apartheid state as well.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Monday that the US was revoking the notion that settlements are illegal under international law. “What Pompeo is announcing is not a rupture in US foreign policy, but a culmination of it,” explains human rights lawyer Noura Erakat.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement this afternoon that the Trump administration no longer regards West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements as illegal under international law, thereby repudiating global opinion and 50 years of U.S. policy, was widely condemned, including by presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. The AP laid the decision at the feet of Sheldon Adelson, Trump’s biggest donor.
US officials are capitalizing off of a scandal surrounding the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees after an ethics report accusing organizational leadership of abuse of power and creating a toxic work environment was leaked to the media. “This is exactly why we stopped their funding,” Trump’s former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said over Twitter.
The US blocked on Wednesday an attempt by United Nations member states to get the UN Security Council to formally condemn Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes in the occupied East Jeruslaem town of Sur Bahir earlier this week.
Donald Trump’s supposed “deal of the century”, offering the Palestinians economic bribes in return for political submission, is the endgame of western peace-making, the real goal of which has been failure, not success.