All What You Should Know About Trump's Peace Plan

The peace plan, expected to be announced by US President Donald Trump within hours, is seen as a win for Israel at the expense of Palestinians. More than 50 years ago, the state of Israel shocked the world when it seized the remaining Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights.

• Israeli sources who have seen the plan it allows for Israel to annex 30% to 40% of Area C of the West Bank, which is today under Israeli civil and security control. In these areas, Israeli sovereignty will be extended to its settlements alone, including those outside the main blocs and in other areas Israeli rule will include the entire territory.
• The U.S. peace plan suggests Israel immediately extend its sovereignty to all but 15 West Bank settlements to create territorial integrity, leaves Jerusalem in its entirety in the hands of Israel with the Palestinians given only symbolic access to the city.
• Palestinians would be given their own state, though it would be severely restricted. It would not be allowed to have an army, not be permitted to forge alliances with other countries and have no control of its air space or borders. The Palestinians would also be required to demilitarize the Gaza Strip and disarm its Hamas rulers.
• The American plan includes a stated intent to see Jewish refugees who fled Arab countries in parity with Palestinian refugees who fled the nascent Israeli state, therefore negating the need for a solution to the right of return of Palestinian refugees into Israel, though a symbolic number will be allowed to return. The American plan also suggests a land swap to compensate the Palestinians for some of the territory they stand to lose.
• Channel 12 news reports, with no source given, that the plan includes Israeli sovereignty not only in all of Jerusalem, but also all 100-plus West Bank settlements, all but 15 of which would be territoriality contiguous.
• But wait, there’s more, like US backing to annex the settlements unilaterally should Israel accept and the Palestinians reject the plan.
• Channel 13 reports that a year-old version of the plan had Israel only getting some 15 percent of the West Bank, but the plan had since “moved to the right.”
• It quotes a White House source calling it “the most pro-Israel plan ever produced or presented,” which is a great way to be seen as a fair dealer.
• According to Yedioth, the Americans are willing to offer the Palestinians recognition for their demilitarized rump state, after four years, if they recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, “conditions that the Palestinians have no chance of accepting.”
• Kan reports that the plan will let Israel annex only half of Area C, “meaning at least 10 settlements would be isolated.”
• “Today, Israel controls some 60 percent of the West Bank, and the Palestinians 40%. The Deal of the Century will flip the balance, and the results will be very difficult strategically,” the outlet quotes a senior figure in the settlement movement saying.