Has the Trump Plan been hijacked?

The “Trump Plan”, launched last January, imposed unprecedented requirements upon the Palestine Liberation Organization, as a “predicate” for the PLO – aka Palestinian Authority – to gain state recognition.

Such requirements distinguish this US administration from all earlier American governments, which made no real demands on the PLO.

Specifically, the new US Peace Initiative requires that the PLO must take the following “immediate” measures before any step is made towards recognition of a Palestinian Arab state:

1. Revoke and overhaul current PLO school curricula, which incite violence.
2. Nullify the unprecedented PLO law that bestows a gratuity for life on anyone who murders a Jew – and to the family of the killer,

In the words of the US peace plan:

“Palestinian leaders must embrace peace by recognizing Israel as the Jewish State, rejecting terrorism in all its forms”.

“Take all necessary actions to immediately terminate the paying of salaries to terrorists serving sentences in prisons, as well as to the families of deceased terrorists.”

“Palestinians shall have ended all programs, including school curricula and textbooks, that serve to incite or promote hatred or antagonism towards its neighbors, or which compensate or incentivize criminal or violent activity.”

Shockingly, however, the demands imposed upon the PLO by the Trump peace initiative are not being discussed anywhere at this time – when plans for July 1st are underway to apply Israeli sovereignty to 30% of Judea and Samaria, hand over massive swathes of land to the PLO, freeze building in 70% of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, and allow the Palestine Liberation Organization army to patrol Route 60, a highway which transverses Jewish communities of Judea and Samara.

Even worse, Israel is now expected to allow at least 18, some say more, Jewish communities to survive as isolated enclaves.

To characterize this process as the “Trump Plan” would be a massive misrepresentation.

The one glimmer of hope is that this US Administration is sensitive to feedback.

The time has come to contact the White House Press office and the US embassy in Jerusalem to respectfully insist that President Trump enforce the very requirements that he imposed upon the PLO – “immediately”– in the precise words of the Trump Plan.

Made sure to communicate your concern to the White House now!

David Bedein is director of Israel Resource News Agency and heads the Center for Near East Policy Research, author of Genesis of the Palestinian Authority and Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict: UNRWA Policies Reconsidered.