Lebanese TV Site Publishes Purported Details Of Trump Peace Plan

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The Lebanese pro-Hezbollah television station Al-Mayadeen claims that it has obtained a copy of the Trump administration’s long-awaited peace deal. The administration has yet to make any comment regarding the veracity of the report, which seems to contradict known Israeli and US positions, but it has been publicized widely in the Israeli media. In recent months there have been many purported leaks of details of the plan, but the US administration has routinely dismissed them as unfounded speculation, stating that it will publicize the details when it is deemed appropriate.

According to Al-Mayadeen, the plans features an agreement between Israel, the PLO based in Judea and Samaria and Hamas based in the Gaza Strip. The agreement would lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state in Gaza and parts of Judea and Samaria and would include the construction of a a highway linking the West Bank and Gaza in order to make the state a contiguous entity. The highway linking the West Bank and Gaza would be suspended 30 meters above ground and be built by a Chinese company. Israel would reportedly oversee its construction.

The state would be totally demilitarized, and would require Hamas to give up its arms. The Palestinian state would be banned from having an army, and the IDF would be charged with protecting it from external threats. In the past, attempts at unification among the Palestinians have broken down over Hamas’s refusal to give up its arms.

The settlement blocs in the West Bank would be annexed to Israel, including isolated settlements, according to the report. The Jordan Valley would also remain under Israeli control. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has in recent weeks said he has US agreement to annex the Jordan Valley.

The report claimed that Jerusalem would not be divided under the deal and would serve as a shared capital for both Israel and “New Palestine.” East Jerusalem residents, however, would become citizens of the Palestinian state, but would continue to receive municipal services from the Jerusalem municipality. The report claims that Jews and Arabs would be banned from buying each other’s properties.

According to the deal, Egypt is expected to provide additional territories for factories, an airport and other commercial and agricultural activity for Arabs in Gaza. In the past Egypt has denied it will give up land in Sinai to facilitate a peace deal.

The alleged framework of the plan begins with the demilitarization of Hamas, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, and its relinquishing of all its weaponry to Egypt. In the event of a conflict between Israel and Gaza terror groups, the US would assist Israel in destroying the terror leadership. Members of Hamas will receive monthly salaries from Arab states, and Egypt and Israel will remove the blockade on Gaza, opening it to international trade.

After a year, democratic Palestinian elections must be held in which every Palestinian is eligible to vote. Palestinian ports and airports will be built within five years, until which time the Palestinians would allegedly be allowed to use Israel’s airports and ports

A year after the elections, all Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails will be freed over a period of three years.

The plan says that several nations will contribute funding to the plan, including the US, the EU and the Gulf States who will jointly put up $30 billion dollars over 5 years for projects related to New Palestine. The report said that the US will give 20% of the sum, with 10% from the EU and 70% from the Gulf.

In June, Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and point man on the Middle East, unveiled the economic section of the plan — formally dubbed “Peace to Prosperity” — a proposal to boost the Palestinian economy by offering a $50 billion aid package that can only be implemented through an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

That 40-page plan rests on three initiatives, according to the document — to “unleash the economic potential” of the Palestinians, “empower the Palestinians to realize their ambitions,” and “enhance Palestinian governance.”

The Kushner plan said that the economic package, if implemented, would double the Palestinians’ GDP, create more than one million jobs in the territories, reduce Palestinian unemployment to single digits (it was 31 percent in 2018, according to the World Bank), and cut the Palestinian poverty rate by 50%.

The Palestinians rejected the economic part of the plan saying it was an attempt to bribe them to give up their aspirations of an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The Palestinian Authority has said that it will reject the rest of the plan too, accusing the US of being completely biased toward Israel and pointing to a recent series of pro-Israel steps taken by the Trump administration.

The PA has boycotted Washington since Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017. The administration responded by cutting all aid to the Palestinians. It also recently changed its stance on settlements, saying that the US no longer viewed them as illegal under international law.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has said he will wait and see what’s in the plan before taking any decisions.