February 1, 2020: Jared Kushner Crafts "Deal of the Century," with Only One Flaw!

 

February 1, 2020: A new month begins. The “Ghost Trial” in the U.S. Senate continues. Democrats want to call witnesses and subpoena documents. Republicans would prefer sock puppets.

 

*

 

THREE YEARS in the making, having taxed all the brain cells Jared Kushner could muster, the Trump administration’s Middle East Peace Plan is revealed. President Trump hails his son-in-law’s 181-page plan the “deal of the century.” 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his entourage, who attend a White House unveiling, can “barely conceal their glee, ” since even Fox News admits the Kushner plan is “unapologetically pro-Israel.” 

As expected, the Palestinians, who have to agree to the “deal of the century,” which has only one “minor flaw” – that it is “unapologetically pro-Israel” – refuse to attend. Even the Kingdom of Jordan, a key U.S. regional ally, boycotts the event. 

In theory, the “lure” for the Palestinians is foreign investment. According to Kushner, as much as $50 billion may flow into whatever scraps of territory they have left after they agree to give up chunks of the West Bank and all the best parts of Jerusalem. 

Here, again, we see the shortcomings of the Trump Doctrine. This is the crass belief that the world’s most intractable problems can be resolved if all parties focus on what loot there is to grab.

 

During an emergency meeting of the Arab League, the plan is summarily rejected. The League warns that the deal, “does not meet the minimum rights and aspirations of Palestinian people.” 

Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority, explains his position to members from all 22 League countries:

 

“They told me Trump wants to send me the deal of the century to read, I said I would not. Trump asked that I speak to him over the phone, so I said ‘no,’ and that he wants to send me a letter, so I refused to receive it.”

 

Holding up a map that [showed] the gradual geographic reduction of Palestine through four stages from pre-1948 to Trump’s Middle East plan, Abbas said: “I challenge any of you, if you can even see us on the map. If you ask a child in first grade to draw Trump’s map he will never know how to.”

 

“This is a disgrace,” he added.

Arab League Nations.