Critics say Trump’s new peace plan futile

President Donald Trump unveiled details of his administration’s plan for peace between Israelis and Palestinians on Tuesday, though the proposal’s critics warned before its release it has little chance of success because of its pro-Israel slant.

Trump’s plan is intended to defuse decades of hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians. In a surprise move, the initiative called for a “two-state” solution – an independent Palestine sitting alongside Israel sharing a capital of East Jerusalem. A “two-state” solution has been a hallmark of IsraeliPalestinian peace initiatives for years, but before the plan’s release, there was speculation Trump might omit it.

Details about the initiative’s economic proposals, including $50 billion in infrastructure spending and investment over 10 years for the Palestinian territories and neighbors Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon, have been previously announced.

The plan’s political aspects have been a closely guarded secret. Its release, after three years in the making, comes as Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief political rival, Benny Gantz, at the White House to discuss the plan. It was not clear whether an invitation was extended to Palestinian leaders.

Trump described his plan as a “historic breakthrough” and said he wrote to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, saying territory set aside for the Palestinian state would remain open for four years in what amounts to a freeze in Israeli settlement construction.

He said the deal, outlined in an 80page document, was a “win-win” for Israelis and Palestinians. The plan would more than double the territory under Palestinian control. It recognizes Israeli sovereignty over major settlement blocs in the West Bank, a scenario many Palestinians will find difficult to accept. The plan would limit Palestinians to specific parts of East Jerusalem and leave Israel in sole charge of holy sites that are sacred to both sides.

“After the nonsense we heard today, we say a thousand no’s,” Abbas said of the deal.

Netanyahu said Israel owes Trump an “eternal debt of gratitude.” He said Trump is the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House. Shortly after the announcement, he asked his Cabinet to endorse a plan to annex parts of the West Bank.

“While Trump claims a revolutionary approach to the peace process, this plan actually recycles past failed efforts: It places Palestinians on probation while they prove their worthiness of statehood, using conditions that are malleable and ill-defined; it seeks to induce Palestinian capitulation through economic largesse; and it removes the onus on IsraeI to make any concessions until Palestinians declare their full surrender,” said Tareq Baconi, a Middle East expert at International Crisis Group, a think tank.

The peace plan was spearheaded by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, White House adviser Avi Berkowitz, former Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt and David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel. All four men have deep religious and educational ties to Israel – factors that undermined their legitimacy as honest brokers in the eyes of many Palestinians.

This “‘peace’ plan ignores the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and thus will continue to perpetuate the conflict,” said Yousef Jabareen, an Arab Israeli member of Israel’s Knesset, or Parliament. Estimates vary, but about 1.84 million Arabs live in Israel, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics. An additional 5 million live in Israeli-occupied territories in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Attempts to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have stagnated for years despite high-profile and rigorous American-brokered attempts at diplomacy.

At its core, it’s a dispute – one of the world’s longest-running – over ancient land that two peoples, Jews and Arab Palestinians, lay claim to.