'Deal of the century'?

President Donald Trump's long-awaited "deal of the century" for peace in the Middle East was rejected by the Palestinians even before it was made public on Tuesday, and rightly so. Not that it was the 'new Balfour declaration' to secure Israel's security interests and legitimize its illegal settlements it was a political stunt both on part of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu who face stiff challenges to their political careers. While Trump's impeachment trial is ongoing in the US Senate a corruption case was filed in an occupied Jerusalem court for indictment of Netanyahu. Since the announced deal is heavily tilted in favour of Israel, the two of them expect to reap political advantage by wooing the pro-Zionist vote. "I was not elected to do small things or shy away from big problems," said Trump, to be instantly echoed by Netanyahu that the peace plan is "exceptional, realistic" road to durable peace. And that's precisely what it is not. Not only does the proposed deal validate Israeli illegal settlements in the name of "remapping" West Bank, it also pretends to meeting the Palestinian claim for East Jerusalem as its capital by offering them alternative piece of land in Abu Qis, a town cut off from Jerusalem by Israel. So excited is Netanyahu over the deal that he announced to push forward with a vote in Knesett to annex parts of West Bank as envisaged in the so-called peace plan. And as for the settlements, the proposed ban on their expansion will expire after four years. Attracting instant rebuff from the Palestinian leadership across the political spectrum, the principal architect of the deal and son-in-law of President Trump, Jared Kushner, has offered talks to the other side in order to find some common ground. But that is not going to be - the pro-Israel tilt in the deal is too obvious to be overlooked by the Palestinian side. While Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas dismissed the deal as a "conspiracy" the deputy head of Hamas, Khalil al-Hayya, told a rally "the unitary scene is the first nail in the coffin of this deal". Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood's arm in Jordan and several activist groups have called for a "mass protest" at the US embassy in Amman.

The so-called "deal of century" is nothing but a crude attempt at salvaging the diminishing political capital of both Trump and Netanyahu. It claims to have acceded to the two-state proposal in Palestine, but when actualized the so-created Palestinian state would be nothing more than a colony of Israel. If at all the Trump administration was sincere in putting in place two states it should have reactivated the Oslo Accords of the 1990s. The said accords created a Palestinian Authority with self-governance of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. Not only did he back the Israeli move to shift capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, he was also the first to shift the US embassy to the occupied city. Under the proposed deal, the Jordon Valley, which accounts for a third of the West Bank, will be under the Israeli sovereignty or suzerainty. Maybe, Netanyahu is itching for a war to divert public attention from his indictment for corruption and Trump has come to his rescue. There is a thinking that if Palestinians refuse to negotiate with Israel toward conditional statehood, Israel would have a free hand to annex the land by use of force. President Trump says he had written to President Mahmud Abbas to enlist his support. But why he didn't invite him when the Israeli side was represented by Netanyahu and his political rival. There was no Palestinian official at the launch ceremony, although ambassadors of Oman, the UAE and Bahrain were at the White House. Agreed, some kind of bonhomie permeates Israel's relations with some of the Arab states, but it should not be overlooked that the deal offered to Palestinians not only impinges upon the sanctity of Baitul Muqaddas but is also in contravention of a number of UN human rights conventions.