Israel-Palestine Peace Plan

Why in News?

The Israel-Palestine peace plan or the West Asia peace plan is the proposal unveiled by U.S. President Donald Trump.

What is Mr. Trump trying to do?

• This plan seeks to address most of the contentious issues in the conflict.
• The solutions, Mr. Trump has proposed to almost all of these issues, favour the Israeli positions.
• He seeks to give to the Israelis, Jerusalem and part of the West Bank.
• With his plan, he is actually pushing to revive the stalled two-state talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but on his own terms.

What is the plan?

• The Palestinian refugees, who were forced out from their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed the declaration of the state of Israel in the historic Palestine, would not be allowed to return.
• Jerusalem would be the undivided capital of Israel, with the Palestine gaining its capital in the east of the city.
• In return, Israel would freeze further settlement activities on the West Bank for 4 years (the time for negotiations).
• During this period, the Palestinian Authority should dismiss its current complaints at the International Criminal Court against Israel and refrain itself from taking further actions.
• It should crack down on certain terrorist groups like the Hamas.

What are the proposed land swaps?

• The plan proposes some land swap for the Israeli annexation of the Jewish settlements of the West Bank as well as the Jordan Valley.
• It seeks to enlarge Gaza and connect the strip with the West Bank through a tunnel.

• The Arab towns in the southeast of Israel, which are close to Gaza, could become part of a future Palestinian state.

What the Palestine may get?

• Mr. Trump has also proposed $50 billion in investment over 10 years should Palestine accept the proposals.
• In the final settlement, Palestine would get control over more land than what it currently controls.
• (According to the Oslo Accords, the West Bank was divided into 3 areas and only one of them is under the direct control of the Palestinian Authority).

What does Palestine want?

• They want an independent, sovereign Palestinian state to be formed which will include the whole of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
• This Palestine position is backed by most of the world powers.
• Issues like the right of return of the Palestinian refugees are to be settled in final negotiations.
• But Mr. Trump has effectively rejected the Palestinian claims outright and asked them to make more compromises.
• He has denied the right of return of the Palestinian refugees, all for truncated sovereignty for the Palestinians in a state that would be practically surrounded by Israel.

What was the Palestine’s reaction?

• Unsurprisingly, the Palestinians had rejected the proposal as they say the Trump administration cannot be an impartial mediator for peace.
• This is because as the Trump administration recognised the disputed Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and supported the annexation of the settlements on the West Bank.
• The Trump plan seems to be underscoring this argument.
• It is virtually impossible for any Palestinian leader to sell these proposals to a people who have been resisting Israel’s occupation for decades.

Source: The Hindu