As one side of the dispute rejected a White House plan it condemned as hopelessly biased, the other raced to lock down the territorial prizes the plan offered. This ensured that the proffered deal could have permanent consequences even if, as many analysts predict, it will go nowhere during its self-imposed four-year window.
Even before the parties had finished poring over the map that described a possible Palestinian state on 70 percent of the West Bank, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made clear he would immediately take steps to annex the other 30 percent, the location of more than 150 Jewish settlements, along with the Jordan Valley.
However, on Wednesday morning, Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, who accompanied Netanyahu to Washington, told an Israeli radio station that because of formal procedures, this process could be delayed.
Muhammad al-Burai, an idled teacher, watched them, lamenting all that the proposal would take away from his beleaguered people. “The plan tells us that there is no Jerusalem, no return of refugees, no control of borders, no airport or seaport, the settlements have become legitimate, the martyrs and the detainees have become criminals, and all this for $50 billion” in promised investment funding, he said. “Is there a sane person who accepts this?”
Israeli settlers were also sorting through the deal’s particulars, with mixed responses. They stood to achieve a long-cherished dream of having their hilltop towns and cities become normalized Israeli communities — patrolled by police instead of soldiers — but many balked at the price: a four-year freeze on building and the prospect of a Palestinian state.
“That’s a big no,” said David Haivri, a longtime resident of Kfar Tapuach, an Orthodox Jewish settlement of 1,500 people north of Jerusalem. “We are a thriving community, and we need to grow. To ask us to not be alive, even for a short period and certainly for four years, we cannot accept that.”
For liberal Israelis, any relief that the concept of a two-state solution might endure — with the unexpected endorsement of a future Palestine by both Trump and Netanyahu — was overshadowed by the restrictions the plan would impose.
“The usage of the word ‘state’ in the context of this plan is beyond cynical,” said Hagai El-Ad, executive director of the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.“This is not a plan for Palestinian rights nor a state, except for the permanent state of apartheid.”
Some of the Palestinians’ Arab neighbors in the region, however, were not so quick to reject the Trump plan outright. Jordan and Turkey roundly condemned the proposal, and in Lebanon, the Iranian-allied Hezbollah movement vowed to “topple” what it called the “deal of shame.”
But others were more supportive, notably Egypt and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf that have drifted closer to normalized relations with Israel out of shifting strategic interests and years of peace-process stagnation. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry tweeted a thank you for Trump’s efforts “to develop a comprehensive peace plan between the Palestinian and Israeli sides,” and the United Arab Emirates described it as “a serious initiative that addresses many issues raised over the years.”
Oman, Bahrain and the UAE sent representatives to the White House for the plan’s release.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/mi ... story.html
It sets a precedent, send in settlers and you can eventually annex territory. I'm against anything imposed. This will help Bibi in the March election but probably not enough to win.
Looking at the response from the surrounding Arab nations (Sunni), it appears that though they have differences with Israel, Israel does represent stability and rule of law where the various Palestinian factions have been fighting for decades and there are numerous Palestinian refugee camps with revolutionaries some Iranian backed. And Israel supports the Sunni Arabs in their fight against Iran (Shia) and we don't know what mutual assistance goes on behind the scenes.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan