Trump’s “Deal of the Century” to Entrench Palestinian Suffering. The Plan to Force Palestinians into Sinai Desert

• Emphasis mine:
• Trump’s “Deal of the Century” to Entrench Palestinian Suffering
  by CJ WERLEMAN, https://ahtribune.com/
  During the 2016 US election campaign, then candidate Donald Trump promised that he alone would make the best deals, the biggest deals, the greatest deals the world has ever known on his way to making America great again.
  –
  When asked how he would help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Trump promised he would bring about what he described as the “deal of the century.”
  –
  Since taking office, however, President Trump has done everything in his power to grant Israel what can only be objectively deemed as the deal of the millennium, while affording the Palestinians their greatest tragedy since the Nakba of 1948, which resulted in the forced displacement of 800,000 Palestinians.
  –
  Trump sanctified an Israeli war crime by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel; appointed David Friedman, a Zionist sympathizer who recently told reporters to “keep your mouths shut” on Israel’s crimes in Gaza, as his ambassador to the Holy Land; cut more than half of its planned funding to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees; and blocked an independent UN investigation into the Israel military’s killing of unarmed Palestinian protesters in Gaza.
  –
  In the more than 500 days Trump has been in the White House, Israel has been given a green light to deepen its occupation of the Palestinian territories. So, where is Trump’s promised “deal of the century”?
  –
  Unfortunately, there is a deal afoot, and it not only spells yet another disaster for the Palestinian people, but also is about to be rammed down their throats by the metaphorical barrel of a gun.
  –
  Whereas the cornerstones of previous US brokered “peace deals” have rested upon the notion of a contiguous Palestinian state, right of Palestinian refugees to return home, Israeli settlements, and the final status of Jerusalem – the soon to be unveiled “deal of a century” will address or resolve none of these issues, leaving the Palestinians with far less than what they have now.
  –
  It’s also been reported that Saudi officials are pressuring Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas to accept what he has already called “the slap of the century,” even increasing Saudi aid to the PA from $7.5 million to $20 million per month, widely seen as a bribe, and which can only be seen as yet another betrayal of the Palestinian people.
  –
  Trump’s deal is expected to officially recognize all of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, which will deny Palestinians East Jerusalem, long considered to be the proposed capital of a future Palestinian state.
  –
  “Trump and Netanyahu are planning to terminate the Palestinian cause by removing Jerusalem from any solution, annexing major settlements and finding a capital for us on the outskirts of Jerusalem,” said Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat in a recent interview.
  –
  It gets worse! The deal will not only deny Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homeland, after being expelled by Israel in 1948 and 1967, but also will deny the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state, forever segregating Palestinians in Gaza from their families and friends in the occupied Palestinian territories.
  –
  It’s also rumored Trump is pressuring Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to open or weaken its border with Gaza, allowing Palestinians to work and live in the Sinai, with the possibility left open for a future Palestinian state in the northern Sinai region.
  –
  Trump and Netanyahu’s goal here is obvious: by pressuring Egypt into accepting a deal that cedes territory to the Palestinians, Israel and the United States can then pressure the international community into accepting this proposed piece of Sinai-Gaza land as the future Palestinian state, and then, in turn, argue that this can be the territory to which Palestinian refugees may be permitted to return.
  –
  “The aim would be to gradually shift responsibility for the enclave away from Israel on to Egypt and further undermine prospects for a Palestinian state in historic Palestine,” observes Middle East Eye.
  –
  Jonathan Cook, a British journalist based in occupied Palestine, predicts Trump’s soon to be proposed deal will also hand most of Area C in the Jordan Valley, which accounts for more than 60 percent of the occupied West Bank, to Israel, a move that will forever entrench illegal Israeli settlements on stolen Palestinian land.
  –
  read more.

end