Unacceptable Details of Trump's No-Peace/Peace Plan

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

From what's known about the scheme, subject to change, Trump's so-called "deal of the century" has nothing to do with regional peace or treating Palestinians equitably.

It has everything to with serving US and Israeli interests at the expense of fundamental Palestinian rights — why it's dead before arrival, why it may never be released in final form, especially if new Israeli elections end Netanyahu's regional reign of terror.

According to Haaretz, Trump's scheme aims to eliminate Palestinian refugees by naturalizing them as citizens of Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere regionally where they reside.

It's all about rendering UN General Assembly Resolution 194 null and void —  resolving that "refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible."

The right of return to one's country of origin or citizenship is inviolable international law. The fundamental right is affirmed by Fourth Geneva, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Refugees resettled as citizens of other countries lose their universally recognized legal right of return to their country of origin.

UN Charter provisions include "respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples," along with promoting fundamental human rights on a non-discriminatory basis. 

International law guarantees the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland, what Israel and the US reject for Palestinians. 

Trump's no-peace/peace plan aims to pressure or otherwise force them to abandon this fundamental right, along with getting Arab countries to go along with the scheme.

According to Haaretz, Trump's deal of the century aims to eliminate the right of return that's been a major obstacle whenever so-called Israeli/Palestinian peace talks were held.

At stake is the fate and rights of around six million diaspora Palestinians, mostly refugees. Trump and Netanyahu regime hardliners want what's affirmed under international law denied them.

Lebanese law prohibits giving Palestinian refugees citizenship because it would render their right of return null and void — what its diaspora population sought since forcefully displaced from their homeland in 1948.

Jordan also rejects the idea of granting Palestinian refugees citizenship. A core element of the Trump regime plan is bribing these countries with economic incentives to go along.

"…Palestinian refugees are the supreme symbols of Palestinian nationhood," said Haaretz, adding: 

"An American deal that blatantly relies on buying up that symbol for cash, even lots of it, can't be acceptable to the Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and Gaza." 

According to Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani, the Trump regime aims "to arrange an economic deal and get its money from the miserable (cash-rich) Persian Gulf countries."

Trump's one-way deal of the century favoring Israel and US interests is unacceptable to Palestinians wanting statehood and freedom from occupation harshness — what hardliners in Washington and Tel Aviv want them denied.

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