THE TRUMP "PEACE" PLAN IS A NONSENSE

The Trump administration’s now-published “vision for peace,” the culmination of what the president said was “a long and very arduous process,” outlines a scenario in which Israel maintains sovereignty west of the Jordan river, a capital in an undivided Jerusalem, and control over Jewish enclaves and settlements scattered through the Palestinian territories.

he Palestinians, meanwhile, get … not much. In Trump’s scheme, backed by Netanyahu, they would give up the claims of Palestinian refugees and accept a conditions-based path to statehood in a patchwork of territory carved up by Israeli roads and settlements. Trump’s plan cedes security control of the eastern border with Jordan wholly to Israel, calls for the dismantling of Palestinian militant groups and allots a Palestinian capital on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem — rather than in East Jerusalem proper, as envisioned by the international community and successive U.S. administrations.

Netanyahu made clear in the White House what this meant: “On this day,” he said, addressing Trump, “you became the first world leader to recognize Israel’s sovereignty … in areas of Judea and Samaria” — the biblical terms for the West Bank commonly invoked in Israel — “that are vital to our security and central to our heritage.” Shortly after the remarks, reports came that Netanyahu’s government plans to vote a vote on annexation of some 30 percent of the West Bank as early as this weekend.

Palestinians angrily rejected Trump’s plan. “After the nonsense that we heard today we say a thousand no’s to the ‘deal of the century,’ ” said Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. “We will not kneel and we will not surrender.”