Encompass Trust-Palestine’s Steering Committee President explains the impact of Trump’s peace deal and the planned annexation of the West Bank:

“On January 28th of 2020 the world witnessed the declaration of Trump’s peace plan to solve the Palestine- Israel conflict. With exchanged smiles and a look of admiration from Netanyahu, Donald Trump proceeded to announce his so-called deal of the century or as it calls itself, a vision to improve the lives of the Palestinian and Israeli people.

This deal includes:

• Jerusalem, undivided is the capital of Israel, the Palestinians will have a capital in a section of east Jerusalem and can be called Al Quds or otherwise.
• Sovereignty on roads, borders, and Airspace and entry points is for Israel.
• No port, nor airport for Palestine.
• Palestine cannot join international organizations without the consent of Israel.
• Palestine would have no right to take future actions and must dismiss pending actions against Israel with the ICC, the ICJ, or Interpol.
• There will be no right of return for the Palestinian refugees.
• Israeli settlements will be part of the state of Israel- no uprooting.
• Jordan Valley under Israeli sovereignty.

The deal of the century includes more details than those above especially about the annexation which is the topic of the hour because Israel is taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to execute its plans.

In the words of David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel: Israel started in February the process of mapping the areas it seeks to seize control over, he also stated that Israel will have U.S. recognition and support after Israel declares its sovereignty over these areas. Conditional upon US approval.

The annexation plan includes all the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, several Palestinian villages, and the Jordan valley which is illegal under international law. This is in addition to the areas that Israel has already declared its sovereignty over which are: east Jerusalem and the Golan heights. This move was never recognized by the international community but celebrated by the Trump administration.

The annexation is posed to have disastrous consequences and is considered a direct violation of Palestinian human rights and international laws including:

• The freedom of movement: Palestinians are already forced to take bypass roads that extend the travel time.* These West Bank roads also have blockades and permanent travel bans due to alleged Israeli security concerns. The annexation will substantially further restrict our freedom of movement locally and internationally, making it more violating, dangerous, difficult and time consuming.
• Violation of property rights: Annexation means that Israel will seize control over privately-owned Palestinian lands and use the absentees’ property law, the same law used to confiscate the property of Palestinians who were made refugees in 1948. Also, Palestinians who have farmlands in the proposed annex areas will have limited, if any access to their farmlands, which will seriously affect their livelihoods, the Palestinian economy, and access to local produce.
• Expansion of illegal Israeli settlements: Israel is already ignoring/violating international law regarding Palestine/Palestinians, as it has confiscated Palestinian land and brought more Jewish immigrants to become settlers.
• Right to remain: Israel’s ambition of annexation will put the Palestinian residents in the targeted areas at the risk of expulsion, either with accusations of security threats from residents, with the need for special roads for settlers or with loss of livelihood.
• Unknown authority: the status of Palestinians living in the annexed areas remains unknown. However, Netanyahu has announced that Palestinians in the annexed areas will not become Israeli citizens, as the Palestinians in the ’48 areas did. This poses a whole new set of logistical problems; living under one government, with a different government being responsible for you.
• Limitations to natural resources: Israel will have full control over the natural resources in the annexed areas which means that they will be able to exploit them without restrictions.
• Enrichment of apartheid: In the West Bank areas proposed for annexation, there will be two groups living in the same area but have a different set of laws and privilege applied to them.
• Further separate Palestinians: Due to checkpoints, the separation wall and past annexation of Palestinian land, the Palestinians have not only become physically separated, but culturally and emotionally as well. The method of ‘Divide and Conquer’, makes it harder for Palestinians from all areas to create unity and cooperative resistance against the occupying forces and its policies. It is more than likely that any Palestinian living in the newly proposed annexed areas will face severe consequences for any activity in resistance movements or condemnation of Israeli policy or methods.”

*From the same point in the northern West Bank, just on different sides of the wall, it takes Israelis 1 hour to get to Jerusalem with no checkpoints. However, on the Palestinian side, it takes 2 hours to get to the last of at least 3 fixed internal  checkpoints until they reach Qalandia crossing, which depending on day and time, could take from 1/2 hour up to 3 hours to cross. Then it’s another 20 minutes to reach Jerusalem proper.

Written by Encompass Trust-Palestine’s Steering Committee President, a 26 year old female from Tulkarem, Palestine.