President Donald Trump’s long delayed Middle East peace plan won support in Israel on Wednesday but was bitterly rejected by Palestinians facing possible Israeli annexation of key parts of the West Bank.
Trump, who unveiled the plan on Tuesday at the White House standing alongside Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with no Palestinian representatives on hand, said his initiative could succeed where others had failed.
Major powers and some regional players responded with caution, saying Trump’s project deserves study while stressing that a durable solution to the conflict can only emerge through Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
But Trump’s proposals reportedly included no Palestinian input and grants Israel much of what it has sought in decades of international diplomacy, namely control over Jerusalem as its “undivided” capital, rather than a city to share with the Palestinians.
It also offers a US green light for Israel to annex the strategically crucial Jordan Valley — which accounts for around 30 percent of the West Bank — as well as other Jewish settlements in the area.
“History knocked on our door last night and gave us a unique opportunity to apply Israeli law on all of the settlements in Judea (and) Samaria,” said Israel’s rightwing Defence Minister Naftali Bennett, using the Israeli term for the occupied West Bank.
The Blue and White party led by Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s main election rival in March 2 polls, embraced Trump’s proposals as offering “a strong, viable basis for advancing a peace accord with the Palestinians”, in a statement late Tuesday.
But the head of Israel’s leftwing coalition Labour-Gesher-Meretz, Amir Peretz, condemned Netanyahu’s expected move towards “unilateral annexations”.
– Palestinian state? –
Trump’s proposal foresees the creation of a “contiguous” Palestinian state but under strict conditions, including a requirement that it be “demilitarised”.
On the flashpoint issue of Jerusalem, Trump said Israel should retain control over the city as its “undivided capital”.
At the same time, the Palestinians would be allowed to declare a capital in parts of east Jerusalem beyond an Israeli security wall, the plan said…….read more
Source: AFP
