Given that Israel has regularly broken the Oslo accords and international law without paying any serious penalty for doing so, it is easy to imagine that in practice the US would find work-arounds to ensure Israel was not harmed for any violations of the deal.
US imprimaturThe alleged document has all the hallmarks of being the Trump plan, or at least a recent draft of it, because it sets out in black and white the reality Israel has been crafting for Palestinians over the past two decades.
It simply gives Israel's mass theft of land and cantonisation of the Palestinians an official US imprimatur.
So, if it offers the Israeli right most of what it wants, what interest would Israel Hayom Netanyahu's mouthpiece have in jeopardising its success by leaking it?
A couple of reasons suggest themselves.
Israel is already achieving all these goals stealing land, annexing the settlements, cementing its exclusive control over Jerusalem, putting pressure on the Palestinians to move off their land and into neighbouring states without formally declaring that this is its game plan.
It has been making great progress in all its aims without having to admit publicly that statehood for the Palestinians is an illusion. For Netanyahu, the question must be why go public with Israel's over-arching vision when it can be achieved by stealth.
Fearful of backlashBut even worse for Israel, once the Palestinians and the watching world understand that the current, catastrophic reality for Palestinians is as good as it is going to get, there is likely to be a backlash.
The Palestinian Authority could collapse, the Palestinian populace launch a new uprising, the so-called "Arab street" may be far less accepting of the plan than their rulers or Trump might hope, and solidarity activists in the West, including the boycott movement, would get a massive shot in the arm for their cause.
Equally, it would be impossible for Israel's apologists to continue denying that Israel is carrying out what the late Israeli academic Baruch Kimmerling called "politicide" the destruction of the Palestinians' future, their right to self-determination and their intergrity as a single people.
If this is Trump's version of Middle East peace, he is playing a game of Russian roulette and Netanyahu may be reluctant to let him pull the trigger.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
1
1
