Upending conventional wisdom, Trump’s peace effort, based on 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, to focus on recognition of Israel by moderate Arab states before attempting direct talks between Israel and Palestinians • Plan reportedly presented by Trump on Tuesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump will launch an unconventional peace plan that is based on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, focusing on upgrading Israel’s relations with Arabs states rather than on reaching an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, a senior Palestinian Authority official told Israel Hayom.
The official said Trump conveyed this intent to PA President Mahmoud Abbas when the two met in Bethlehem on Tuesday.
The Arab Peace Initiative, also called the Saudi Initiative, was unveiled in 2002 by then-Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at the Arab League summit in Beirut. Under the plan, which was formally adopted by the summit, Arab states would agree to normalize relations with Israel if the Jewish state met certain conditions, chiefly among them withdrawing to the 1967 lines, resolving the refugee issue and establishing an independent Palestinian state.
According to the Palestinian official, Trump told Abbas that this new effort should not be interpreted as a disavowal of the two-state solution, but only that the president wanted to think outside the box and explore other options. As such, the president reportedly said that if progress would be made in advancing the Arab Peace Initiative, he would try to strike an interim peace deal that would focus on the various paths toward a final status agreement culminating with the creation of an independent Palestinian state and a joint Israeli-Palestinian statement declaring an end to the conflict.
The president also reportedly said that the first phase of the plan would include some form of normalization between moderate Sunni-Arab states and Israel. Later on, depending on how much progress is made, the U.S. would try to launch direct negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians with a set timetable aimed at finding a compromise on core issues such as borders, the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Judea and Samaria communities outside the major settlement blocs, and the right of return of Palestinian refugees. This marks a shift in the usual prescription for peace, since Arab leaders have repeatedly said that normalization of relations must come only after core issues are resolved and a Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital.
The Palestinian official said that Trump made it clear to Abbas that he would like to see Saudi Arabia and other Arab states — presumably in the Persian Gulf — begin normalizing ties before the Israelis and Palestinians reach a deal. Trump also reportedly said that Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and various nations in the gulf were ready to accept this template in principle. According to the Palestinian official, the normalization of ties will be largely symbolic. Namely, Saudi Arabia and other Arab and Muslim states will recognize the State of Israel and its right to exist but they would not sign peace treaties or open embassies in Israel.
“The Arab Peace Initiative has stalled because the talks [between Israel and Palestinians] have repeatedly unraveled for various reasons,” the Palestinian official said. “Trump wants to promote a different approach because all previous attempts to move forward in the peace process failed.
“The president stressed that Saudi Arabia and other states are willing to give this new approach a chance and that upending conventional wisdom — namely, having normalization with Arab states precede Israeli-Palestinian peace talks — could usher in a new peace process that would have a set timetable, culminating with the creation of a Palestinian state that would recognize Israel, as well as a joint statement declaring an end to the conflict and the settlement of all claims.”
The Palestinian official said Abbas responded by saying the Palestinians were vehemently opposed to such a move. The official also said that “Abbas has long feared such a plan, since he believes that a thaw in relations between Israel and other states with the full support of Washington, Amman and Cairo, would not help resolve the Palestinian issue, only dim the prospects of a just settlement. In the short time Trump has been in office we have learned that we should expect the unexpected.”
The official said that “the ongoing stagnation in the peace process and the lack of talks between the two sides have not been helpful; if there are new approaches that could be proposed to promote a final status agreement that would lead to an independent Palestinian state and an end to the conflict, we will support that.”
The official said Abbas was not surprised to hear that Egypt and Jordan expressed their support for the move, since they were the first to sign peace treaties with Israel despite the unresolved Palestinian issue. The official further said that their support elicited anger among Palestinians, especially toward Amman, and this has even led to strains in the relationship between Abbas and King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Meanwhile U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters Wednesday that during President Trump’s visit to the region this week he had “very substantive discussions with Israeli and Palestinian officials.” According to Tillerson, “The president was very forceful in his encouragement to both of them to be serious about approaching these discussions in the future and recognize you have to compromise. Everyone has to compromise, so he was putting a lot of pressure on them that it was time to get to the table; he’s made the point several times. “
Tillerson said that “he [Trump] was very energized because he does feel there’s a certain sense of urgency for these parties to finally get on with it, take advantage of this opportunity … and I think he has to set his tone depending upon how important or urgent the issues are.”
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=42703
Abbas wants USA to talk to Israelis about the terrorists prisoners not getting enough TV. He is refusing to stop payment to the same terrorists. Talk about being on a different page than Trump.
The peace concepts going nowhere or round and round until someone gets so dizzy they get off the merry-go-round of peace initiates. Getting all upset about what is going is an overreaction.
@ David Sternlight:
Please remind me again what percentage of American Jews voted for Obama?
“From the 1970s through to the 1990s, Sharon championed construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. However, as Prime Minister, in 2004–05 Sharon orchestrated Israel’s unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Facing stiff opposition to this policy within the Likud, in November 2005 he left Likud to form a new party, Kadima. He had been expected to win the next election and was widely interpreted as planning on “clearing Israel out of most of the West Bank”, in a series of unilateral withdrawals.[6][7][8] After suffering a stroke on January 4, 2006, Sharon remained in a permanent vegetative state until his death in January 2014.[9][10][11]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Sharon
I think the following should be posted on bulletin boards all over Washington until the message finally sinks in:
“You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.”
Ayn Rand
Enough hysterics. Since Trump’s children and in-laws, almost all but Barron, are Jewish and know perfectly well what must be part of Israel, this is all about letting Abbas know he is isolated and can no longer count on “brother Arabs”. Thus he becomes a powerless would-be tin-pot loudmouth in a minuscule area. Salami tactics cut both ways. We are watching the polite emasculation of Abbas. Trump is no fool. Meanwhile anyone who has seen the comic opera reception of President Trump by Abbas knows what’s going on.
Trump seems to become a sort of Chamberlain ignoring the basic goal of Islam: the destruction Israel! His ignorance makes things most dangerous for Israel. The Arab Peace Initiative wants the most dangerous armistice Line of 1949 (named Borders of 1967) as a permanent border plus East-Jerusalem to become a Palestinian Capital). Incredible!Kusher should give him some lessons in history and legal rights of Israel, also explain that Resolution 242 does not demand an Israeli withdrawal from all territories taken in 1967. It asks for secure borders! etc.
@ Dennis:
A voice of reason. Thank you.
:
On the live TV broadcast, the Jew PM will be looking somber, while telling Israelis that a bold sacrifice to achieve peace, even bolder than the ones which they have made in the past, will need to be made this one last time.
His Arab counterpart will scream about the great victory he has achieved, and rally his bloodthirsty compatriots with cries of “Jihad! JIHAD! JIHAD!“
The formula is very simple: the palestinians have to show that they are willing to compromise by fixing their school books and by stopping the financing terror in the form of payments to the families of terrorists on the basis of their success. Nothing less will do.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
The key is self-sufficiency: militarily, diplomatically and economically. Anti-Semitism overrides all sensibility and is the source behind refusal by the Palestinian Arabs to make any substantive change. Anti-Semitism is a non-rational cancer which cannot be negotiated or compromised. The cure will take a multi-generational cultural and character reformation not yet even begun. Until then, Israel should build and build in all areas. Give the Arabs and the West reasons to hate Israel and Jews, but act in expanding Israeli footprint and reality on the ground. Time is on our side because tyranny will not win, and Palestinian Arab demographics and ethics are declining.
In the end, “peace” will fail because, all the (fake) Palestinians, and the Arabs who back them, want is for Israel and the Jews to be gone, so that they can have all the land. And, if they can kill and humiliate the Jews in the process, so much the better! (By the way, It really IS a religious war based on ancient tribal hatred). The Arabs have never really wanted to establish a functioning state on the so-called “West Bank”. What they do want, however, is the excellent base for their next war on Israel that the West Bank would provide. A Palestinian state would create another terrorist entity, like Gaza or South Lebanon, right in the heart of Israel. ALL the talk about a Palestinian state is just a ruse. If “negotiations” do proceed, however, it will all come down to Jerusalem, over which there can be no compromise. The only reason the Palestinians want Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount in particular, is to keep the Jews from having it, since it embodies the essence of what it means to be a Jew. Unfortunately, thanks to Levi Eshkol, (may his name be blotted out), since 1967, Israel now has the Temple Mount in name only. And so this tragic comedy of the absurd continues. (P.S. A Palestinian state would also create another bastion of terrorism that the world would have to deal with).
I didn’t waste my time to read this. it’s all based on what some anonymous “Palestinian official” said. Gosh, I wonder if he’s lying, practicing the popular tradition of taquiyya. Why take what he says as being even close to the truth? The source is bad, so the info is bad. This goes in the garbage. We heard Netanyahu state in front of rabbis and others that the land of Israel is not for sale. There will never be a peace deal unless the Palestinian Arabs wake up and realize they lost the war.
It boils down to the same nonsense rewarmed. Israel makes all the concessions and reveieves nothing but empty promises in return.
@ Bear Klein:
I said I want to know. Nobody is saying. Before he went, he said they weren’t paying enough of it. All the time. He’s backtracked on so much. It’s a valid question.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Just to pick one point you actually believe Trump is subsidizing the Saudis arm purchases?
I read the article, which does not mean it is factual or accurate by the way.
Yes Trump may apply pressure behind the scenes. Does not mean he will get his way. I do not believe he will get his way in mission impossible.
If Jerusalem Is not for sale Why is it on the table?
Just to please the U.K. and USA?
If you do not respect Jewish History nobody will.
@ Bear Klein:
Did you read the article? It quotes Abbas saying approvingly that instead of negotiating with him — so he makes no concessions — Israel will negotiate with the Arab States based on the 2002 Saudi plan which calls for withdrawal to the ’67 “Auschwitz” lines, flooding Israel with fakestinian “refugees” and fakestinian statehood.
Israel has already begun to make concessions to Arab settlemnent, including illegal Arab settlement in Area C and is being pressured by Trump to transfer parts of Area C to the PA.
Not paradigm-changing? Why, because it’s piecemeal? Salami tactics?
reposting:
This is what the Arabs are doing.
http://www.afsi.org/pamphlets/SadatsStrategy_Eidelberg%5B1%5D.pdf
As has been pointed out, I think by Caroline Glick, The Sunni Arabs need Israel and the U.S. against Iran. We don’t need them for anything. We don’t need to make any concessions. That photo with the king shaking hands with a hatless Ivanka show how desperate these desperados are.
I hope it fails quick before any more concessions are made.
Just because Trump is doing it behind closed doors, doesn’t mean he isn’t applying pressure.
All the pro-Israel speeches in the world don’t make up for the loss of one inch of the land. And the only concessions the fakestinians, the Muslims, the Arabs, can or will make is all talk anyway. Talk is cheap.
And, are we subsidizing the arms deal with the Arabs? Not a word about that. $350 billion is a staggering amount to add to the debt. Israel gets only $38 billion over the next ten years, all of which has to be spent here on arms. So it’s a subsidized arms deal that serves to suppress Israeli industry and make Israel more dependent on the U.S. for, in some cases like that plane, expensive junk. Qualitative edge? You kidding me?
Where was Iron Dome invented again? Whose police train with whose where for anti-terrorism tactics? Who is helping who with emergency water conservation training. Who needs whom?
Why is Israel buying submarines from partly Iranian and Arab owned German companies instead of manufacturing them?
Why should Israel be importing junk from anywhere?
Self-sufficiency is essential to self-determination.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/230161
http://www.timesofisrael.com/abbass-top-diplomatic-adviser-there-is-no-regional-peace-plan/