What's in Trump's "deal of the century"? The answers are in plain sight

"He can then continue with what he's been doing for the past 10 years. He will expand the settlements, and suppress the rights of Israelis who oppose him. He will move Israel towards a situation of apartheid."

In an early effort to win Trump's favor, reported by MEE a year ago, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas proposed a land swap ceding 6.5 percent of the occupied territories to Israel. That was more than three times what had been accepted by the Palestinians in previous peace talks.

But the Palestinians appear to have lost the battle and are now braced for the worst. Abbas has derided the plan as "the slap of the century," and has said he will not commit "treason" by agreeing to it.

According to Palestinian officials, they are likely to be offered provisional borders over fragments of land comprising about half the occupied territories -- or just 11 percent of what was recognized as Palestine under the British mandate.

The Palestinian areas would be demilitarized, and Israel would have control over the borders and airspace.

Israel and the Palestinians would then be left to "negotiate" over the status of Israel's illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with Trump likely to back Netanyahu to the hilt, according to the analysts.

It is widely assumed that the Americans have rejected any principle of a right of return for Palestinian refugees, either to Israel or to the areas of the occupied territories that Israel wins US approval to seize.

The US embassy's move to Jerusalem last month appears to signal that the Trump administration will recognize all of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. That would deny Palestinians East Jerusalem, long assumed to be the capital of any future Palestinian state.

And separate reports this month suggest that the announcement of the peace plan may be timed to coincide with new measures for Gaza and the Golan Heights. There have been rumors for several years that Washington and Israel have been pressuring Cairo to let Palestinians in Gaza settle in Sinai.

According to Israeli reports, Washington may be close to unveiling a scheme that would weaken the border between Gaza and Egypt, and allow Palestinians to work and maybe live in northern Sinai.

The aim would be to gradually shift responsibility for the enclave away from Israel on to Egypt and further undermine prospects for a Palestinian state in historic Palestine.

(Image by Central Bureau of Statistics)   Details   DMCA

And in a separate move that would complete Netanyahu's windfall, an Israeli government minister claimed late last month that the Trump administration may be ready to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan.

The Heights were seized by Israel from Syria during the 1967 war and annexed in violation of international law in 1981.

A Jerusalem Post report last month suggested that the White House document would be unlikely to include a commitment to a "two-state solution," reflecting previous comments from Trump.

That would free Israel's hand to seize areas of the West Bank it has colonized with its ever-expanding settlements.

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