Biden declares Trump two-state solution dead and buried

 

An apparent attempt by the outgoing US Ambassador to Israel — David Friedman — to preserve the two-state solution proposed in former President Trump’s Vision for Peace (Vision) — lasted about two hours— before being shredded in the garbage bin of history by the newly-elected President Biden.

This is the only conclusion one can reasonably draw after a second U.S. Ambassador to Israel page — in French — headed U.S. Ambassador to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza—was published on Twitter at about the same time as President Biden’s swearing in ceremony was beginning (See images following).

Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida blamed the new Biden administration for the Embassy’s second Twitter page:

“The Biden Admin title change for the @USAmbIsrael shows the Democrats’ hostility to Israel”

 Other comments similarly blamed the Biden administration.

These criticisms seem misplaced — given the timing of the second page’s appearance on Twitter.

The second page was not a forgery — as a spokesman for the American embassy told The Times of Israel:

“This is not a policy change or indication of future policy change.”

The spokesman was simultaneously confirming that Trump’s two-state solution was still America’s policy objective in the West Bank and Gaza:

• A Palestinian Arab State in Gaza and about 70% of the West Bank—plus an area currently within Israel’s sovereign borders and 
• Israeli sovereignty being extended in the remaining 30% of the West Bank

That Friedman — not the incoming Biden administration — authorised this second Embassy Twitter page — is further supported by the fact that Friedman posted his final Tweet — as Ambassador — on both Embassy pages:

“Signing off now, moving to @DavidM_Friedman. Thank you President Trump for the honor of a lifetime. Thank you @MikePence,@MikePompeo,@SteveMnuchin1,Jared Kushner,@AviBerkow45,@Robertcobrienand @LighstoneA…”

The Jewish Chronicle also reported:

“In a further comment, the US Embassy said: “It was an inadvertent edit, and not reflective of a policy change.”

An “inadvertent edit” it certainly was not.

Someone in the Embassy had created the second Embassy page — pre-Biden — and someone in the new 2 hours-old Biden administration had apparently directed the Embassy — after Friedman had left— to de-activate that page. Representing Trump’s two-state solution as American current policy going forward under the Biden administration had come to a crushing halt.

A Washington Post article in August 2020 summed up Biden and the Democrats position on Trump’s two-state solution:

“The Democrats, led by presidential candidate Joe Biden, are determined to change course should they come to power. There are open discussions within the caucus about conditioning the billions in aid given to Israel on the basis of its actions. Biden and virtually every Democrat in Congress were vocal in their opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s now-stalled plans to start annexing parts of the West Bank.”

Any attempt by Israel to extend its sovereignty unilaterally into any part of the West Bank — incorrectly termed “annexation” — will assuredly be opposed by President Biden.

Trump’s Vision acknowledged the historic and biblical right of the Jewish people to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in the West Bank — recognized and legally authorized by the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine — and preserved under article 80 of the United Nations Charter.

A jointly-appointed US-Israel Mapping Committee — headed by Friedman — had failed — after 11 months — to produce a detailed subdivision of the West Bank embracing the conceptual two-state solution proposed by Trump — before Friedman’s retirement as Ambassador.

Closing the Embassy’s second Twitter page signals such a map will never be released under President Biden’s administration.

Biden has effectively declared Trump’s two-state solution dead and buried.


Author’s note: The cartoon—commissioned exclusively by the author —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

Trump’s indecision is sinking his own two-state solution

 

President Trump’s failure to release a detailed plan showing the specific borders of a Palestinian Arab State incorporating Gaza and about 70% of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) - before he leaves office at midday on January 20, 2021—will sink the only two-state solution that has any possibility of being implemented in direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

President-elect Biden seems set to support the failed two-state solution propagated by the United Nations for the last 25 years — which is unacceptable to Israel.

When releasing his comprehensive plan “Peace to Prosperity — A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People” (“Peace Plan”) on January 28, 2020—Trump pointed out:

“For the first time in this conflict, President Trump has reached an understanding with Israel regarding a map setting forth borders for a two-state solution.

This Vision proposes a realistic two-state solution, offering a viable path to Palestinian statehood.

Israel has now agreed to terms for a future Palestinian State.”

Trump’s Peace Plan — unlike any other Presidential solution previously offered by his predecessors —was accompanied by the following conceptual plans showing his proposed two-state solution.

The final borders were to be determined in direct negotiations between Israel and the PLO.




At a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on January 28, 2020—Trump announced:

“We will form a joint committee with Israel to convert the conceptual map into a more detailed and calibrated rendering so that [Israeli] recognition can be immediately achieved.

We will also work to create a contiguous territory within the future Palestinian State for when the conditions for statehood are met, including the firm rejection of terrorism.”

Trump’s Peace Plan was rejected by PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on February 5, 2020:

“They told me Trump wants to send me the deal of the century to read, I said I would not,” Abbas told the meeting of Arab League foreign ministers.

“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.”

On February 9, 2020 - US Ambassador to Israel—David Friedman—affirmed:

“The process [preparing a detailed map—ed] will not last very long, but we want to go through a process… We’re going to go through a mapping process to convert a map which is drawn of more than a million to one into something which really shows on the ground how the territory will be put together.

It’s not unduly difficult, but it’s also not simple, because there are a lot of judgment calls. We don’t want to do this piecemeal …

We want to do it once, holistically, in totality, and get it done right. We just want to get it done right. That’s not too much to ask. And that was the president’s message when he spoke about it the first time.”

On February 15, 2020 - the three US members of a joint US-Israel committee to join Israel’s three nominees in translating Trump’s conceptual plans into two defined territorial entities were announced (Mapping Committee).

Eleven months later the Mapping Committee’s map remains under tight wraps. No reasons have been given for the Committee’s failure to publish.

Failing to release the Committee’s detailed map before January 20 will see Trump’s two-state solution sink into political oblivion — leaving no defined borders for future Israel-PLO negotiations — should they ever be resumed.

President Trump’s opportunity to finally end the 100 years-old unresolved Jewish-Arab conflict will then have become just a footnote in history — joining the failed attempts of his Presidential predecessors.


Author’s note: The cartoon—commissioned exclusively by the author —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

Trump will not let UN, PLO and Biden bury his Peace Plan

 [Published 30 November 2020]

The Trump-haters are circling Trump’s life raft promising a comprehensive Middle East peace — but Trump can repel their determined efforts to sink it if he is not nominated as President when the Electoral College votes on December 14th.

United Nations Secretary-General Guterres is not remotely interested in pursuing Trump’s Peace to Prosperity Vision— which calls for Israeli sovereignty to be extended to about 30% of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) — with an independent demilitarized Palestinian Arab State being established in the remaining 70% and Gaza (Peace Plan).

Guterres remains committed to supporting Palestinians and Israelis resolving the conflict:

“in line with relevant UN resolutions, international law and bilateral agreements in pursuit of the vision of two states.”

Guterres will be exhorting international support for UNSC Resolution 2334 — which Obama and Biden shamefully failed to veto on December 23, 2016 — abstaining instead — as they were departing the White House.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) seemingly does not have any interest in Trump’s Peace Plan — a PLO official recently declaring:

“We have received many positive messages from the Biden team in the past few days. We are looking forward to opening a new page with the Biden administration after the damage caused by the Trump administration.”

The PLO refused to negotiate with Israel on Trump’s Peace Plan even before its details were published last January. Biden also seems certain to trash Trump’s Peace Plan if elected America’s next President.

The Times of Israel reports:

“According to Israeli political sources, Biden’s team intends to reinstate negotiations between Israel and the PLO on the basis of the long-mordant Oslo accords. The sources claim Biden is even taking Oslo mediator Dennis Ross out of cold storage for that purpose. Ross’s longtime deputy Aaron David Miller penned an op-ed in Canada’s National Post this week where he argued that President Trump has been bad for Israel and good for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

Another Biden favourite presently in cold storage — failed negotiator Martin Indyk — wrote this week:

“The first priority is to repair the damage wrought by the Trump administration. Trump’s “deal” should be taken off the table when he departs the White House. Relations should be restored with the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, which were severed in the wake of Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. U.S. aid to projects that provide vital support to the Palestinian people should be revived. The U.S. Embassy should stay in Jerusalem, Israel’s designated capital, but Biden should declare that he also recognizes that Palestinians aspire to have the capital of their state in East Jerusalem”

Replacing negotiations on Trump’s detailed territorial plan of proposed subdivision with failed negotiations that have gone nowhere over the last 25 years is a recipe for disaster.

Trump’s options for progressing his Peace Plan and thwarting its detractors could include:

• Releasing the map that has been prepared by the joint American-Israel Mapping Committee showing the precise areas set aside for Israel and a Palestinian Arab state
• Declaring Israel is entitled to extend sovereignty in the Israel-designated area of the map at any time Israel deems appropriate
• Asserting that if the area designated for a Palestinian Arab state on the map is not accepted—then that area should remain as an Arab enclave to be administered by Hamas and the PLO as presently exists—or administered by Jordan and Egypt as the last sovereign Arab States to occupy Gaza and Judea and Samaria between 1948 and 1967.

Trump — being Trump — is not going to let his Peace Plan be buried by the UN, PLO and Biden.

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

Trump-Netanyahu Mapping Committee needs to deliver the map

 [Published 13 November 2020]

The threatened political demise of President Trump should provide the impetus for the joint Trump-Netanyahu Mapping Committee to publish its map delineating the areas of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) to which Israeli sovereignty can be expanded under Trump’s Peace Plan released last January (Plan).

Trump made this intention clear when releasing his Plan:

“We will form a joint committee with Israel to convert the conceptual map into a more detailed and calibrated rendering so that recognition can be immediately achieved”

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman went further:

“The president got up and he made a speech. And he said there will be a committee and the committee will go through a process; the process will not last very long, but we want to go through a process.”

The Committee’s first meeting — held on February 24 — comprised:

• David Friedman, 
• Friedman's senior adviser Aryeh Lightstone, and 
• Scott Leith, director of Israeli and Palestinian affairs in the US National Security Council
• Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, 
• acting Prime Minister’s Office chief Ronen Peretz, and 
• National Security Adviser Meir Ben Shabbat.

Little has been heard of its progress since.

Trump would be following former Presidents who progressed their peace plans as fast and as far as they could before their four year terms of office ended:

• President Clinton brought together Israeli and Palestinian negotiators at Camp David as late as December 2000 who failed to reach agreement on Clinton’s proposed two-state solution before he stood down as President on January 20, 2001

• President George Bush — whose 2002 Road Map and 2007 Annapolis process never came to fruition — attempted to solidify gains made under Annapolis with UNSC Resolution 1850 —approved on December 16, 2008 — before he left office on 20 January 2009.

• President Barack Obama discarded the Annapolis process for his own peace initiatives, which had come to nought in April 2014 when negotiations were broken off. With no hope of reversing this deadlock - Obama regrettably refused to veto UNSC Resolution 2334 on December 23, 2016 as he was preparing to leave the White House on January 20, 2017 — which proposed a two-state resolution based on the pre-1967 armistice lines

Trump still has until January 20, 2021 left in his present term to try and bring his Plan to fruition.

Trump — unlike Clinton, Bush and Obama — has been unable to get the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to negotiate with Israel on his Plan.

However Trump can still materially advance his Plan by:

releasing the Mapping Committee’s map showing the areas of Judea and Samaria where Israeli sovereignty can be applied and delineating the boundaries of a demilitarized Palestinian Arab State

procuring consent to that map by Egypt, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Bahrein and Sudan who have all normalized their relationships with Israel

getting other Arab states to normalize their relationships with Israel and agree to the Mapping Committee’s proposals

attempting to get the PLO to negotiate with Israel and

giving Israel the green light to apply sovereignty when it considers appropriate

Trump begun his presidency by visiting Saudi Arabia and pledging to bring peace to the Middle East. 

During his Presidency — Trump took significant steps to recognise Israel’s claim to 30% of Judea and Samaria by determining that:

• Israeli settlements located there were not inconsistent with international law
• the US would not distinguish between Israel and Judea and Samaria in its future dealings with Israel

Early release of the Mapping Committee’s map will ensure Trump’s momentum for peace continues full speed ahead until at least January 20, 2021 —  and beyond if re-elected for a second term.


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.