Palestinians To Reject Any Peace Plan That Ends War

Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner disclosed yesterday that the deal will be released in June.

Ramallah, April 18 – Anticipation of US President Donald Trump’s long-awaited peace plan for the Middle East has prompted various interested parties to make pronouncements staking out positions that they hope will enhance or maintain their diplomatic leverage when it finally comes to light, with Palestinian leaders insisting any peace proposal that does not guarantee them the legitimacy and wherewithal to continue making war against Israel will be dead on arrival.

Former chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, a close confidant of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, declared Thursday that Palestinians will only agree to consider Trump’s so-called “deal of the century” if it includes provisions allowing the prosecution of war against the Zionists until the latter are cleared from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

“President Trump long ago abandoned the pretense that the US serves as an impartial broker,” Erekat stated. “The recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the embassy move, the cutting of funding to UNRWA, and the Taylor Force Act all place him firmly on the side of the Israelis. Nevertheless, we remain open to good faith proposals from all parties, and if the Deal of the Century lives up to the hype and adequately addresses our demands for justice and victory over the Zionist usurper, we will of course weigh it as we would anyone else’s ideas.” Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner disclosed yesterday that the deal will be released in June.

Analysts differ on the import of the Palestinian declaration. “Much of what we see in advance of the deal’s publication is posturing,” argued Naresh Keit of the Brookings Institution. “In the absence of the proposal’s confirmed content, the Palestinian leadership, like other parties who expect it will affect them, aims to shore up domestic support in advance of whatever diplomatic and political challenges they anticipate. The tried and true way to accomplish that has always been to take a combative, defiant tone in the face of a more powerful entity. When push come to shove, however, we can expect the Palestinian leadership to show at least some flexibility, perhaps toning down their demand to a more reasonable-sounding insistence on extending the conflict only another hundred years instead of for all eternity.”

“Nothing indicates we shouldn’t take Erekat at his word,” countered Rhea Liszt of the Middle East Policy Forum. “It’s not as if the Palestinians haven’t rejected every peace proposal to date, including several that would have given them almost everything they claim they want. At this point I think what Erekat, Abbas, and company are actually afraid of is the actual end of the conflict. They wouldn’t know what to do with themselves.”

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