Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trump aims at Palestinians, hits Israel
If President Trump really wants to make what he calls “the ultimate deal” – a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians – he’s working against himself.
After moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and asking nothing from Israel in return, Trump continues to provoke the Palestinians. His actions may please Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters among Trump’s base, but they undercut any chance of the United States brokering a peace deal.
In recent days, the United States has cut off nearly $300 million in payments to the United Nations Relief and Works Administration (UNRWA). The agency, which dates to 1949, helps 5.4 million descendants of Palestinian refugees who live in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Syria and Libya. The Trump administration also withdrew $25 million for hospitals in East Jerusalem that serve Palestinians. The administration also ordered the closing of the Palestinian Authority office in Washington.
Perhaps because Thursday marked the 25th anniversary of the Oslo Accords, which negotiators hoped would bring agreement on a Palestinian state and longterm security for Israel by 1999, Trump was signaling that he opposes the two-state solution that has been American policy.
Timing aside, the actions threaten to make a bad situation worse and complicate things for Israel.
There long has been debate over UNRWA. One of the “final status” issues that divide Israel and the Palestinians is refugees. Creation of Israel in 1948 and the Six Day War in 1967 displaced hundreds of thousands of Arabs. Some Palestinian leaders claim “right of return” to Israel even for descendants of the displaced – whom the United Nations also classifies as refugees. Israel correctly opposes resettlement of what could be millions of people.
The Trump administration called UNRWA an “irredeemably flawed organization.” Critics within Israel would agree on the group’s flaws – Arab countries contribute very little, for example – but they also worry about a collapse of UNRWA.
For example, the organization schools roughly 500,000 children. In the West Bank and Gaza, it provides many services that otherwise would come from a government. UNRWA is vital in Gaza, where living conditions for the two million Palestinians are awful.
After the Trump administration’s announcement, UNRWA officials began looking for other money, primarily in Europe and the Persian Gulf. Israel also is concerned. According to newspaper reports, defense officials believe that Israel must create an alternative to UNRWA. Otherwise, one report said, “Gaza will collapse and violence from Gaza toward Israel will escalate.”
Among the Israeli delegation that will attend an UNRWA donor conference in New York is the country’s coordinator of activities in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, reports Haaretz, the nation’s oldest newspaper. Though Netanyahu praised the UNRWA cutoff, others in the government obviously disagree. Damage in Gaza may be the more immediate threat, but Trump’s decision could do even more harm in the West Bank.
The Oslo Accords created the Palestinian Authority and gave it full or partial control – with Israel – over 40 percent of the West Bank. With help from the United States, Palestinian and Israeli security forces have cooperated to stop terrorist attacks. Within those areas, Israel also doesn’t have to provide public services that could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Commentators have written that the drop in attacks and completion of the security barrier have allowed many Israelis to overlook the Palestinians and take the relative calm for granted. That Oslo anniversary, however, has reminded Palestinians how far they remain from a state. According to one poll, 70 percent of Palestinians want to end security cooperation with Israel.
Trump clearly wants to apply pressure on the Palestinians, but hasn’t articulated a path toward peace. Administration officials have promised a plan since last spring, but new reports are that the president will propose nothing until after the election.
If recent reports are true, the proposal will amount to nothing. Trump plans to deal with the Palestinian refugee problem by asking Arab countries – notably Jordan – to accept Palestinians as citizens.
There’s nothing new or helpful about that idea. King Abdullah II of Jordan has called it “a red line” he would not cross. With Jordan having signed a peace deal with Israel the year after Oslo, one wonders why Trump is needlessly pressuring allies.
Israel and the Palestinians both deserve blame for Oslo’s failure. The status quo, however, benefits Israel. Trump’s actions will make Palestinians more resentful and the future more dangerous.