WHILE YOU STAND ON ONE LEG: Well, the Arabs have already had their quick say – complete rejection – on President Trump’s just-released ‘Deal of The Century.’ Now for ours on this ‘Deal,’ which goes further for us than any before. It should be one of appreciation to Trump in the context of it being less than to what we’re entitled through history and the Palestine Mandate, and security need, and possession for the past fifty years, the land of Israel in its entirety, including Judea-Samaria and historic Jerusalem.
This Week: What Are WE To Make of ‘The Deal of The Century’?
Ok, by now, we’ve all read tons of takes on ‘The Deal of The Century,’ but here’s one you missed. The Whistle-Blower, minding his own business in a White House john, overheard a White House staff aide telling another that a third had overheard Trump devising ‘The Deal Of The Century’ in a meeting with his Wise Men.
“Strike as hard as you can at 2334 and the EU labeling decree,” Trump said, “but here’s the Quid Pro Quo: Leave Jordan out of it, and in the end, if the PLO plays along, there has to be an inside-the-land-of-Israel Palestinian Arab state with a Jerusalem (suburbs) capital. You can contract with Hamas Excavating, Inc., to build the tunnel under the Negev from Gaza, but Barron has to be on its Board.”
All right, that was Fake News. What appears to be more like real news is Aljazeera reporting pan-Arab reaction to Trump’s “Deal of The Century” that has just been released. It reports: “The Arab League has completely rejected US President Donald Trump’s Mideast plan during an emergency meeting in Egypt’s capital, saying it would not lead to a just peace deal.” Trump’s team had not kept key Arab states in the dark on the plan, so this immediate unanimous flat-out rejection is presumably not the reaction the Trump team had been expecting.
But what are we, grassroots American Jews, to make of Trump’s “Deal of The Century”? The ZOA found 21 “aspects” of the plan to view favorably: Israel has valid legal and historical claims to the land it will give up; 242 doesn’t demand Israel give all the land back; no ‘settlements’ will be uprooted; 97% of the ‘settlements’ will be incorporated into contiguous Israeli territory; the Jordan Valley will be under Israeli sovereignty, as will territorial waters; Gaza will be demilitarized; the long Jewish historical and religious connection to Jerusalem is recognized, as is Israel’s safeguarding the religious sites of all for the past 50 years; Jews have the right to pray on the Temple Mount; “Jerusalem will remain the sovereign capital of the State of Israel” and should remain undivided; the U.S. embassy will remain in Jerusalem; Israel will maintain overall security in the Palestinian Arab areas; full demilitarization of any Palestinian Arab state; Palestinian Arabs must show “both a clear intention and a sustained capacity to fight terrorism”; Israeli captives and remains to be returned to Israel; Hamas must adopt the Quartet principles before being in a Palestinian Arab government; Palestinian Arab refugees, used as pawns for decades to prolong the conflict, are to be settled outside of Israel; the Israel-absorbed Jewish refugees from Arab and other Muslim lands, and Israel for absorbing them, are to be compensated; and before becoming a state the Palestinian Arabs must cease anti-Israel incitement.
By me, given the view of the conflict held by the United Nations, the European Union, the western media and western liberals in general, including, shamefully, the institutions of most American Jews, that the international border of the State of Israel is the Israel-Jordan armistice line of 1949, excluding Judea-Samaria and historic Jerusalem, Trump’s “Deal of The Century” is most welcome, indeed. It expressly recognizes the validity of the Jewish people’s claim to the land of Israel, western Palestine, in its entirety, including Judea-Samaria and historic Jerusalem, and keeps Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. It is an, alas belated, American “No” vote on UNSC 2334, and a rejection of the EU’s product labeling decree declaring Jewish “settlers” a “foreign” presence in “the West Bank (including East Jerusalem),” as the EU sneeringly put it.
So what’s not to like? By me, it is the Deal’s fatal view, stated on page 7, of “the Palestinians, who do not yet have a state.” This is the basis for giving them, if implementation of the Deal comes to pass, a western Palestine, inside-the-land-of-Israel, Palestinian Arab state. Granted, this Israel-surrounded state, from what we can see from the Deal’s terms and its low-resolution maps, seems less existentially dangerous to the Jewish state than those of predecessor peace plans, including the currently-demanded Arab state on “the green line,” but the creation of any inside-the-land-of-Israel Arab state, with unnatural borders and with sovereignty having the powers it inherently does, is inherently terror and conflict-inviting and historically and legally unjust to the Jews.
“The Palestinians,” who have millennia-less Palestine blood equity than do the Jews, DO already have a Palestine state, Jordan, 78% of the Palestine Mandate, with its Jewish national home and close settlement of Jews on the land, and which has a Palestinian Arab population majority. The equitable “two-state solution” to the division of Palestine between its Arabs and its Jews is to make that 78% of Palestine that has been given to Arabs “democratic and Arab,” not to divide for a second time between Arabs and Jews the remaining 22% of Palestine that its first division left for that twice-previously-sovereign, historical-presence-earned national home of the Jews.
The great significance of President Trump’s “Deal of The Century” is its recognition of the validity of the Jewish people’s historical and legal homeland claim to the land of Israel in its entirety, including Judea-Samaria and above all historic Jerusalem. It includes a natural Jordan Valley defensible border. But it gives the Jewish homeland less than the remaining 22% under the Palestine Mandate by contemplating a future literally inside-Israel, western Palestine Palestinian Arab state.
So where do we go from here? “The Palestinians,” who have rejected far more generous to them western Palestine Arab states, will likely not embrace this one, even with the economic enticements appended at length to the political part of the Deal. The ZOA Friday urged Israel to get on with implementing Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and Jewish communities beyond the green line, and the U.S. to recognize this under the Deal and the 1924 Anglo-American Convention, a Treaty, reaffirming the Mandate. Israelis must work out their political difficulties, Netanyahu’s indictment and the so-far indecisive elections, recollecting political infighting’s effects on the Great Revolt and before that the Hasmonean fights against Rome. For us grassroots American Jews, the effective immediate course would seem to be appreciation of President Trump’s recognition – against that of the UN, EU, western media and publics, and many American Jews and their institutions – that the Jewish homeland claim does not stop at the green line, but includes a Jordan Valley defensible border and Jewish state-heart historic Jerusalem.
Given the Arabs’ instant flat rejection of this ‘Deal’ that includes an inside-the-land-of-Israel Arab state, I think we have to be no less clear and concise: Palestinian Arab-majority Jordan contains 78% of the Palestine Mandate, which had provided for the twice previously sovereign Jewish national home. The remaining 22%, with its defensible Jordan Valley natural border and historic Jerusalem capital, constitutes that Jewish national home.
APPENDIX – Selected Excerpts from “Deal of The Century”
“This Vision provides for the transfer of sizeable territory by the State of Israel – territory to which Israel has asserted valid legal and historical claims, and which are part of the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people – which must be considered a significant concession” (p. 12)
“The Arab-Israeli conflict created both a Palestinian and Jewish refugee problem” (p. 13)
“The State of Israel and the United States do not believe the State of Israel is legally bound to provide the Palestinians with 100 percent of pre-1967 territory (a belief that is consistent with United Nations Security Council Resolution 242)” (pp. 15-16)
“The State of Israel will benefit from having secure and recognized borders. It will not have to uproot any settlements, and will incorporate the vast majority of Israeli settlements into contiguous Israeli territory. Israel enclaves located inside contiguous Palestinian territory will become part of the State of Israel and be connected to it through an effective transportation system.” (p. 16)
“The Jordan Valley, which is critical for Israel’s national security, will be under Israeli sovereignty.” (p. 17)
“The State of Israel will retain sovereignty over territorial waters, which are vital to Israel’s security and which provides stability to the region.” (p. 17)
“People of every faith should be permitted to pray on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, in a manner that is fully respectful to their religion, taking into account the times of each religion’s prayers and holidays, as well as other religious factors.” (p. 20)
“Jerusalem will remain the sovereign capital of the State of Israel, and it should remain an undivided city. The sovereign capital of the State of Palestine should be in the section of East Jerusalem located in all areas east and north of the existing security barrier, including Kfar Aqab, the eastern part of Shuafat and Abu Dis, and could be named Al Quds or another name as determined by the State of Palestine.” (p. 21)
“Jerusalem should be internationally recognized as the capital of the State of Israel. Al Quds (or another name selected by the State of Palestine) should be internationally recognized as the capital of the State of Palestine.” (p. 23)
“Every country spends a very significant sum of money on its defense from external threats. The State of Palestine will not be burdened with such costs, because it will be shouldered by the State of Israel.” (p. 25)
“The State of Palestine shall be fully demilitarized and remain so ….” (p. 26)
“The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreement shall provide for a complete end and release of any and all claims relating to refugee or immigration status. There shall be no right of return by, or absorption of, any Palestinian refugee into the State of Israel.” (p. 36)
“In the diplomatic sphere, in particular, the Arab countries, along with the State of Palestine, should cease to support anti-Israel initiatives at the United Nations and in other multilaterial bodies. In particular, they should not lend their support to any efforts intended to delegitimize the State of Israel.” (p. 40)
“Revisionist initiatives that question the Jewish people’s authentic roots in the State of Israel should also cease.” (p.40)
“The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreement will provide that the parties recognize the State of Palestine as the nation state of the Palestinian people and the State of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people.” (p. 41)
“The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreement will end the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and end all claims between the parties.” (p. 42)
Appendix I contains “Conceptual Maps” showing the areas of western Palestine of the two states.
“… the State of Israel must have operational control over the airspace west of the Jordan River.” (Appendix 2A, p. 49)