America’s Deal of the Century in Perspective

The Trump administration plans to present a ‘deal of the century,’ after Ramadan on the Palestine issue. The plan was announced two years ago when the US moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Until today only he and a handful of aides know its precise details. But recently a plethora of leaks have revealed many of its details. The recent leak by a Zionist newspaper revealed the most details to date and this is most likely to build public opinion for what will be in the final deal.

The US policy towards the Zionist entity and Palestine was developed during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower in the 1959. US policy has remained the same whether democrat or republican has held office. US policy has been two states, one for the Zionists and another for the Muslims. It would mean the Ummah abandon what was usurped by the Zionists and accept its existence. Isolating the Zionist entity from the region would make it beholden to the US who would provide it with aid and security and for it to protect US interests in the region. All that remains was to determine the final borders and impose this upon the region. Various US road maps have been proposed for this but other international issues and the fact that the Muslim rulers have failed to impose this upon the Muslims of the region has stopped it from coming into existence. During this period the Jewish entity has expanded, built further settlements and tried to influence where the final borders will be. Since the Bush administration in 2001 the Palestine issue has not been a priority for successive administrations. Bush was busy with Iraq and Afghanistan, whilst Obama was busy with the Arab Spring and Syria.

During his presidential campaign, Trump criticised Obama for mistreating the Jews of the Zionist entity and promised to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Donald Trump took office in January 2017 and visited Saudi Arabia, the Gulf and the Jewish entity from 20 May 2017, but this visit showed there was no urgency on the conflict between the Zionists and Palestine as nothing specific was mentioned or highlighted by Trump aside from vague and broad statements about peace in the region.

In September 2017, Trump moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and this was interpreted by many as US acceptance of Jerusalem being an integral part of the Zionist entity for the foreseeable future. It was here Trump spoke about moving the conflict between Palestine and the Zionist entity forward with an ultimate deal or a deal of the century.

The Trump administration had promised that the plan would be delivered during the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2018, it was then delayed to early 2019 and has continues to be delayed. Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser and Jason Greenblatt the president’s special envoy to the Middle East have both led on the deal of the century. Speaking at a forum of Time Magazine in April 2019 Kushner said the deal of the century would "deal with all the core status issues because you have to do it, but we've also built a robust business plan for the whole region. I think that what we do is something that allows for Israel to maintain security, but there will be tough compromises for both.”

Kushner travelled to a number of countries in February 2019 in order to gain support for the plan. He met Saudi Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman. He met with Erdogan in Ankara on 27 April 2019 and then he also met the leaders of the UAE, Bahrain and Oman. In an interview with Sky News Arabic, Kushner stressed the economic initiatives to achieve the peace plan. These visits were focused on gaining support from the regional Muslim nations and getting them to contribute economically to Gaza and for the PLO to accept the deal in return for this money.

A number of leaks have revealed the plan:

• New Palestine would only include the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, excluding all Zionist settlements.
• The Muslims of Palestine will have to abandon Jerusalem as their capital. The Zionists will withdraw from some villages East and North of Jerusalem, but with complete control over the city.
• The Palestinian state will be demilitarised, with light arms kept by the police.
• Egypt will give or lease to New Palestine land on which it will open an airport and an industrial zone.
• A road would be paved between Gaza and the West Bank and it would be possible to transfer desalinated water via an underground conductor between the two places.
• The US, EU and Gulf States would finance the deal at a cost of $30 billion during the first five years. This support is meant to build a viable economy for the Palestinians.
• The Palestinians would have to abandon their right of return as enshrined under international law.

The new Palestine would exist on only a tiny fraction of historic Palestine. All illegal settlements in the West Bank would be annexed to the Zionist entity, leaving only 12% of historic Palestine. This means the Zionists will get 88% of historic Palestine. This deal, if true, would suit the Zionists as it will normalise its occupation, it would be a disaster for the Muslims as it would require them to give up everything that has been usurped by the Zionists.

This deal of the century aims to use economic and financial inducements so the Ummah in Palestine accept the deal. The visit to the Muslims rulers in the region and beyond by Jarred Kushner and Trump means the rulers have already accepted the deal and will play their role in its execution.

When Trump announced the deal its likely the economic aid to the new Palestine state will be given focus on order to make the deal appear as a fair one, but with the Ummah never accepting previous deals which had similar details, its likely this deal will fail like them to as it steals Muslim land to give to the Zionists.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Adnan Khan