The Trump Deal in Trouble

Inertia means stability and lack of movement. But sometimes things move very quickly, and do so repeatedly so as to seem rigid to the lazy eye. For example, the Palestinian situation seems frozen, although it has been moving with great speed. It has gone down a virtual black hole, which swallows it in a deliberate process aimed at “liquidating the issue.” This is what the Israeli leadership is seeking, what the Western allies are complicit in, and what some Palestinians and Arabs are colluding with, sometimes unconsciously and consciously.

The Palestinian situation seems to repeat itself since at least the war of June 1967, as evinced in the resolutions of the United Nations and its envoys, and in the draft solutions that are discussed all the time without any progress. Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, all this has been reduced to the so-called “peace process.” There is the rapid movement of Israeli actions: from the confiscation of land to the expansion of settlements; the Judaization of cities and towns, the siege of towns and their dismemberment, paralyzing and displacing the population, Israel’s daily killing and arrest of Palestinians, and its ongoing attempts to penetrate the Arab war with the establishment of political, trade and economic relations with other countries.

With the results of the U.S. presidential election and the victory of Donald Trump, there’s a lot of talk about a deal to end the conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis. A few days ago, the Arab Summit in Jordan adjourned, and the Palestinian issue was reportedly an important topic. The most important issue pertained to Article 15, which reaffirmed the readiness of the Arab regimes to commit to normalizing relations with the Zionist entity concerning the two-state solution and returning to the June 1967 borders. Trump claims he’s a deal maker. But the deal is not based on the idea of returning to the June 1967 borders and does not propose removing settlements. It has nothing to do with the right of return for Palestinian refugees. The latest Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics report issued at the end of March determined that the occupied land to date does not exceed 15 percent of the total land in the West Bank.

The American administration’s handling of how it solves the Palestinian issue is based on “the deal,” specifically the “Trump deal,” which demands that Palestinians accept Israeli conditions to solve the problem. This does not recognize the national rights of the Palestinian people, making it politically and morally unacceptable.

Part of the “political deal” entails “an agreement between two normal states in conflict or war that has been prolonged in a way that leads to the depletion of the other party without the possibility of victory for the other. The political deal comes in to end the conflict and avoid further losses. Two countries and two peoples.” This definition does not apply to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The state of Israel is only a colonialist entity, intent on occupying land by rape and arms. That is, it is not a “normal” state. The Palestinian Liberation Organization is a national liberation movement for people who have been forcibly raped, displaced from their homeland, and discriminated against in their own land. The truth is that one of the parties on the ground has not achieved its final victory.

The Israelis, who claim to be against occupation and settlements, see the ideal solution as the “two-state solution” and fear the “bi-national state” will blow up in their face. At the same time, they do not accept the removal of settlements, nor do they relinquish the security guarantees that make the Palestinian state a subordinate entity under Israeli control or the right of Palestinians to return.

The Palestinian people know all of this. They cling to their rights and face Israel’s ambitions in spite of the harsh conditions Israel imposes, as evinced in the martyrs who die daily and express their rejection of the settlement presence. Apart from the shaky and excessive positions of the Palestinian Authority, they will not give up their homeland nor will they recognize the reality that many parties are trying to impose on them. Without their consent, there will be no solution. They will reject the Trump deal and insist on preventing it from happening!