Wednesday, 29 January 2020

Trump’s Annexation And Apartheid Plan

Home/Daniel Larison/Trump’s Annexation And Apartheid Plan


Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Jared Kushner and President Donald Trump in Jerusalem, May 22, 2017. Credit: Flickr/CreativeCommons/Kobi GideonGPO/Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Earlier today, the president and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu unveiled the administration’s so-called “Vision for Peace,” which is nothing more than a blueprint for more annexation, continued occupation, and apartheid:
The package is expected to propose a redrawn border between Israel and the West Bank that would formalize Israeli control over large Jewish settlements. It would give U.S. blessing to some forms of Israeli security control over the territory Israel seized in 1967 and has occupied since, according to two people familiar with the plan who spoke on the condition of anonymity before the plan’s release.
The proposed plan is a one-sided giveaway to Israel that offers Palestinians an empty shell of a “state” and endorses the annexation of illegal settlements along with the entire Jordan River valley. It goes without saying that Palestinians and their leaders will reject this and will view it as the insult that it is. No Palestinians were involved in the “process” that created this plan, and it is obvious that their interests and rights are of no importance to the plan’s authors. As Khaled Elgindy pointed out last night, this is a U.S.-Israeli plan that is being dictated to Palestinians with no respect for their aspirations and agency:
At the same time, the notion that an American president, in consultation with two Israeli leaders, could decide on the future of Palestinians without any Palestinian involvement seems to epitomize Trump’s overall approach to the conflict, which not only has ruled out the possibility of Palestinian self-determination but seems to hold the very notion of Palestinian agency in contempt.
It is easy to understand why Palestinians would reject it when you look at the map of what they propose:
This is a scheme cooked up by pro-settler ideologues in the administration, and it has nothing to do with resolving conflict and everything to do with making Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territory permanent.

No one expected that the Trump administration would produce anything resembling a serious proposal to serve as the basis of real negotiations, but what they have produced is still remarkably awful. The next administration should repudiate this plan and the ugly vision of annexation and apartheid that it represents. If Israel proceeds with further illegal annexations, the next administration should cut off all military aid. The U.S. should no longer be enabling an illegal occupation, and our government should end its support for the ongoing dispossession and abuse of millions of people.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Daniel Larison is a senior editor at TAC, where he also keeps a solo blog. He has been published in the New York Times Book ReviewDallas Morning NewsWorld Politics ReviewPolitico MagazineOrthodox Life, Front Porch Republic, The American Scene, and Culture11, and was a columnist for The Week. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Chicago, and resides in Lancaster, PA. Follow him on Twitter.

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