T. Belman. It is more than a map. This map is not the basis for negoting borders. It fixes the borders so that Israel is free to exercise sovereignty over all land shown as theirs.
What is significant, is that this is the first time any plan has come with an actual map.
By HERB KEINON, JPOST
The new Israeli-Palestinian border map (photo credit: WHITE HOUSE)
One of the landmarks of US President Donald Trump’s diplomatic plan that was introduced Tuesday night is that it presents an actual map – a map that shows how the US administration envisions Israel’s final boundaries. This marks the first time any American Mideast plan has come with a map.
Maps have been talked about, maps have been suggested, maps have been drawn up and shown in private meetings. But during the Oslo negotiations, and at Camp David between Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat, no formal, clear maps delineating Israel’s future borders and the borders of a future Palestinian state were presented to the public.
Until Tuesday night.
The map that US President Donald Trump put out on Tuesday to accompany the “Deal of the Century” indicates that Israel will cede some 70% of Judea and Samaria.
Some may argue that this is an American plan, and an American map, and therefore not binding on anyone. They are correct. But considering the very close cooperation between Jerusalem and Washington, and considering the input that Israel had in drawing up the plan, it is almost inconceivable that Trump would have presented this map without Jerusalem’s consent.
As one senior US official said, for the first time in the 52 years since the Six Day War, there is a map that indicates for all to see what Israel believes it can live with in the context of Palestinian state.
The presentation of a map does not a deal make, obviously, and there is no guarantee that there will be a Palestinian state. But if there ever is one, this map shows the territory that Israel feels it can live with within the context of that state. It shows, for the first time, the territory Israel feels is vital for it to retain in a situation where it cedes land to the Palestinians to separate from them.
The use of the word border is bad bad bad. Once the sodomites have land they can call their own with borders that will allow them to arm, be armed, build an airport home to goodness knows how many plane loads of arms and more terrorists arriving daily.
Once they become a state with borders Israel cannot reposes its land as rightful owners.