Too Soon to Tell, Check this Space in Five Years

Having slept on it, I woke up still not liking Trump, still not liking Netanyahu and still untrusting of Palestinian Arab intentions.

The deal of the century is not strictly-speaking a peace plan. It is an effort to impose a plan on one side. I did not like the approach when the EU or previous US administrations tried it against us. I don't like it now.

Does this plan strategically address Israel’s demographic problem? Does it try to build an Israeli domestic consensus?

What it does is change the conversation. From Netanyahu's indictment and from the impeached Trump's Bolton problem to sovereignty over the settlement blocs and annexation of parts of the strategic West Bank.

That the announcement was a political ploy aimed (beyond changing the topic) at domestic audiences (evangelicals in the US and the strident right in Israel) is now beside the point.

I think David Ignatius  (no Philo-Zionist I admit) is right that this is a "squeeze play" against the Palestinians. Ehud Barak tried that in July 2000 and it took until September 2000 to comprehend the effect (the second intifada).

Trump and Netanyahu are rolling the dice. Maybe a third intifada won't break out. Maybe it will all be a Big Yawn. 

The Arab League is trying to keep a low profile, but the PLO is pushing for a meeting on Saturday, Feb. 2. While the Gulf States are putting out vague statements that we are free to interpret as supportive of Trump. 

The fundamental reason the Palestinians reject this non-peace plan is that they do not want a state alongside Israel (regardless of its contours).  

They still dream of supplanting Israel. 

They will never agree to the legitimacy of a Jewish state anywhere in the Middle East. They still reject the Balfour Declaration for God's sake!

Summing up, it is too early to tell what it all means.

Better to have done nothing if you ask me and let Israelis vote in peace.

President Trump’s Deal of the Century to Bring Permanent Peace to the Arab-Israel Conflict

A peace plan that is DOA?

We will know soon enough what is in President Trump’s Deal of the Century to Bring Permanent Peace to the Arab-Israel Conflict.

Those who think he’s got things sorted with North Korea and Iran can afford to be optimistic.

The rest of us cannot take seriously his plan for it will be released under farcical circumstances. 

Our PM is indicted. Trump is impeached. 

Israelis are heading to elections -- in a matter of weeks.

Moreover, an imposed peace plan is bad – even if it is imposed on our enemies. That's always been Israel's position. And for good reason.

The idea that you can make peace without a partner is Trumpian. The Palestinian Arabs will not even discuss Trump’s Plan so how can it lead to peace with security?

It might exacerbate the violence. It might unleash a third intifada. And for what?

How can Israelis accept a Palestinian Arab state that does not recognize the inalienable rights of the Jewish people to a national homeland in this land.

Only that recognition would signal an end to Palestinian Arab rejection of Israel's right to exist.

As for a demilitarized Palestine? How’s that idea working so far in Hamas-controlled Gaza?

We should have been using the time provided by Trump’s Absurdist Presidency to figure out what we Israelis want, what is achievable, and what is in our long-term interest.

We should be trying to get our own house in order. 

Instead, Netanyahu is rolling his dice with Trump. And with our future.

"Whither Black-Jewish Relations?"

My forthcoming talk in Raanana will take place on Martin Luther King Day
and address the state of the relationship between the African-American and Jewish communities in the US.



Follow this link for details and ticket information.


https://tickets.raanana.muni.il/Martin_Luther_King_Day_-_Whither_Black-Jewish_Relations__-__Dr._Elliot_Jager

To invite me to speak submit the form on the right.