Trump’s 12-Point Plan?
While the Trump administration has kept its forthcoming proposal for an Israeli-Palestinian deal tightly guarded, a policy paper made public on Friday by a top Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official claims to reveal its contents. This even though the White House last week said that the Israeli-Palestinian plan is not yet finalized and that “nobody knows what it is.”
Still, PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat circulated a paper to Fatah officials titled, “Dictations of President [Donald] Trump for the new phase: imposing a solution, June 2017 – March 2018.” The document, published on Friday by several Palestinian media outlets, outlines what Erekat claims is in the U.S.-conceived deal.
Erekat did not write how he allegedly obtained the purported draft U.S. plan, but he previously served as chief Palestinian negotiator and has extensive diplomatic relationships.
Here are the 12 main points that Erekat claims make up the Trump administration’s plan:
1) Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
2) A Palestinian capital in the peripheral suburbs of Jerusalem. While Erekat did not single out which areas would ostensibly be given to the Palestinians, numerous past Israeli-Palestinian peace proposals have designated specific peripheral Jerusalem areas as future Palestinian territory due to the large concentrations of Palestinians living in them.
This reporter previously documented the largely untold story of Palestinians building entirely illegally on Jewish-owned property in those areas. The illegal Palestinian construction has worked to generate facts on the ground, creating de facto Palestinian neighborhoods inside peripheral Jerusalem that are virtual no-go zones for Israeli civilians.
3) Israeli annexation of a small portion of the West Bank. Erekat claims that the White House is proposing that 10 percent of the strategic territory be annexed by Israel, while Erekat writes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants 15 percent, including some major settlement blocs. The supposed annexation would take place after a period of three months.
The West Bank contains historic Jewish communities and some of the holiest sites in Judaism, including the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs in Hebron, Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem, and Joseph’s Tomb in Shechem. The Palestinians never had a state in either the West Bank or eastern Jerusalem and they are not legally recognized as the authorities in those areas.
4) The contours of a Palestinian state would be established. As Times of Israel has written, what is envisioned is “a demilitarized Palestinian state with a strong police force.” Israeli forces would be present “along the Jordan River and ‘central hills’ in the West Bank to protect the two states; and giving Israel overriding security responsibility for emergency cases.”
5) Territory would be gradually handed over to full Palestinian control. The PA, which would ostensibly take over the territory, supports terrorism, incites against Israel, celebrates the killers of Jews, and pays monthly stipends to those who murderer Israelis. PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s security forces have participated in scores of deadly attacks against Israelis.
6) The world would recognize Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people, and the newly formed Palestinian state would be recognized as the homeland for Palestinians.
7) Israel would guarantee freedom of worship at all religious holy sites – even though Israel already guarantees freedom of worship while some sites under Palestinian or Muslim control openly ban Jews and Christians from worshiping. Moreover, the Palestinians have desecrated some of Judaism’s holiest sites, including the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs and Joseph’s Tomb.
The Muslim custodians of the Temple Mount currently ban all Jewish prayer and only allow non-Muslims to visit under strict conditions and for a few hours per day, but not on holidays. Erekat’s outline does not mention any requirement for the Palestinians to ensure freedom of worship.
8) The PA would be allocated sections for use at the Ashdod and Haifa ports and at Ben Gurion International Airport, while Israel would retain security responsibility.
9) Israel would retain overriding security control at international border crossings, but the Palestinians would be granted a presence.
10) Israeli would control territorial waters, airspace, and electromagnetic waves, but would ensure Palestinian needs are met.
11) A safe passageway under Israeli sovereignty would be created to ensure contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
12) Palestinian “refugees” will be settled in the Palestinian state. This reporter previously documented significant issues with the Palestinian “refugee” claim, including historical distortions and flawed statistics. Also, the United Nations doesn’t define a Palestinian “refugee” the way it defines all other refugees, and its definition actually sustains the “refugee” problem instead of solving it.