Palestinians are skeptical of the Trump administration’s long-anticipated Middle East peace plan, calling it the ‘steal of the century,’ after President Trump unveiled the complete proposal Tuesday.
The plan, dubbed the ‘Deal of the Century’ by Trump, aims to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The plan includes a two-state solution – creating a Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel – and a four-year freeze of Israeli development in area eyed for the future Palestinian state.
Palestinian political analyst Zaha Hassan said the plan is “essentially a call for Palestinians to surrender their legal rights and their history and claims to the land.”
“The purpose of the ‘deal of the century’ is to ensure that Israel may annex the maximum amount of land with the minimal amount of Palestinians and get US support in legitimizing what will amount to what many refer to as the ‘steal of the century,’” said Hassan in an interview with Al Arabiya English.
Palestinian leadership have outright rejected the plan, accusing Trump of pro-Israel bias, and a series of protests are planned in both the West Bank and Gaza on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Trump administration’s plan is likely already underway, according to Palestinian expert Dr. Yara Hawari.
“In many ways, I predict that a lot of things in the plan are already underway. So in that sense, it has succeeded, but how much can a plan succeed if it doesn’t have the Palestinian leadership on board?” Hawari, a senior policy fellow at Al Shabaka- the Palestinian Policy Network, said in an interview with Al Arabiya English.
Calling the 80-page plan a “historic opportunity” for the Palestinians to achieve an independent state, Trump said Palestinians “deserve a far better life.”
“Palestinians are in poverty and violence, exploited by those seeking to use them as pawns to advance terrorism and extremism,” Trump said in a speech from Washington.
The announcement of the plan comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House on what he said was a “historic mission to design the permanent borders of Israel and ensure our security for decades to come.”
“Israel has now agreed to terms for a future Palestinian State,” the White House said in a statement.
Under Trump’s plan, the Palestinian state would be double the size of land that Palestinians currently control and would be connected by roads, bridges and tunnels, according to US officials.
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