PLO repudiates Trump Plan: Opens door for Jordan and Egypt
PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has publicly repudiated the Trump Peace Plan telling the United Nations (UN) in his annual address:
“The Palestinian people have placed their hope in the United Nations, the historical witness of their Nakba, to provide support to their legitimate struggle for freedom and independence. And we continue to await the UN to fulfil its responsibility to achieve a peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine in accordance with its resolutions.”
The PLO will have a long wait – as Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu told the UN in his annual address:
“I will be ready and I’d be willing to negotiate on the basis of the Trump plan to end our conflict with the Palestinians once and for all.”
In justifying the PLO‘s decision to jettison the Trump Plan – Abbas stated:
“The declaration we are adopting today reflects the belief of the State of Palestine that upholding international law is the guarantee for achieving justice, that the UN Charter remains the basis for a more just, peaceful and prosperous world and that international law is imprescriptible and its respect more pressing.”
The PLO long ago consigned itself to irrelevancy when it became the arbiter of what international law it was prepared to accept or fabricate and which to simply ignore – as exemplified by:
- The “State of Palestine” not being a state under article 1 of the Montevideo Convention.
- The PLO refusing to accept two foundational pillars of international law under article 18 of its 1964 Charter:
“The Balfour Declaration, the Mandate system and all that has been based upon them are considered fraud.”
- Article 20 in the revised 1968 Charter seeing the PLO going even further:
“The Balfour Declaration, the Mandate for Palestine, and everything that has been based upon them, are deemed null and void.”
Abbas then declared to the UN:
“[Our people] will achieve their rightful and natural place among nations, living in freedom, dignity and security, in their sovereign and independent State, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on the 1967 borders.”
This will never happen – Netanyahu telling the UN:
“For decades, all progress was halted and was held hostage to completely unrealistic Palestinian demands, such as the demand that Israel withdraw to the indefensible lines of 1967 and place its security in the hands of others; or the demand that Israel expel tens of thousands of Jews from their homes, effectively committing ethnic cleansing; or the demand that Israel absorb millions of Palestinians who are descendants of refugees from a war that was launched by the Palestinians against Israel more than half a century ago.
Of course, these demands, along with many others, are complete non-starters for any responsible Israeli government.…
… Thankfully, President Trump chose a different path to peace—a path anchored in reality.”
That Trump path has been rejected by the PLO – but another path can replace it: direct negotiations between Israel, Jordan and Egypt to allocate sovereignty in Gaza and up to 70% of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) not designated for Jewish sovereignty in Trump’s peace plan.
In 1964:
- Egypt administered Gaza
- the West Bank was part of Jordan and its residents were Jordanian citizens
- Article 24 of the PLO Charter declared
“This Organization does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or the Himmah Area”
Negotiations between Israel, Jordan and Egypt based on these 1964 realities should now be Trump’s focus – the key to seeing Trump’s deal of the century becoming a reality and ending the 100 years old Jewish-Arab conflict.
David Singer is a Sydney lawyer and a foundation member of the International Analysts Network
Author’s note: The cartoon – commissioned exclusively for this article—is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators – whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog
