Middle East Monitor / January 27, 2020
US President Donald Trump’s deal of the century offers a non-sovereign Palestinian state which would not have an army or call East Jerusalem its capital, Rassd reported yesterday.
Quoting Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Rassd said Trump expects Palestinian Authority (PA), PLO and Fatah President Mahmoud Abbas to reject it.
He will, therefore, give the deal a four-year-preparation period in the hopes of Abbas’ successor accepting it.
Yedioth Ahronoth reported Israeli officials saying that the non-sovereign Palestinian state will be established on 70 per cent of the area of the occupied West Bank with Jerusalem’s neighbourhood of Shuafat as its capital.
Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa Mosque and all other holy sites, would remain under Israeli control. The Muslim and Christian sites would, however, be administered jointly by the PA and Israel.
Between 30 and 40 per cent of Area C in the occupied West Bank will be annexed by Israel. Fifteen Israeli Jewish settlements would remain isolated and 60 settlement posts with 3,000 settlers will be dismantled.
According to the Oslo Accords, the occupied West Bank is divided into three areas: A, B and C. Area A, which includes 18 per cent of the West Bank, is under full administrative and security control of the PA.
Area B, which includes 21 per cent of the occupied West Bank, is under the administrative control of the PA and the security control of the Israeli occupation.
Area C, which includes 61 per cent of the West Bank, is under full administrative and security control of Israel.
During the four years of preparation, building in Area C is to be frozen completely.
The deal stipulates that the Palestinian state would have no control over its air space, borders, crossings and would have no power to hold any agreement with foreign countries.
It proposes a tunnel to connect Gaza to the West Bank, however, Israel has yet to agree to this because it believes the tunnel can be used for weapons smuggling.
The deal would require Hamas and Islamic Jihad to relinquish their arms.
Some $50 billion in funding for economic projects would be made available for the proposed Palestinian state with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman joining leaders of other Gulf States in pledging funding for the deal.
