New York Times bashes Trump's plan for Israel-Palestine

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The New York Times editorial board has come out strongly against U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal to end the Israel-Palestine conflict, calling it the most difficult plan presented thus far "to take seriously."

Trump formally rolled out his plan on Tuesday as he faces a bitter impeachment battle, alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is also facing charges in three separate graft cases ahead of nationwide elections March 2.

"From all appearances, the 'deal of the century,' as it was touted, seemed nothing more than a cynical attempt at a diversion by two politicians in trouble, a sop to their right-wing bases as each leader vies for re-election — Mr. Netanyahu in early March, Mr. Trump in November," the editorial board wrote using Trump's nickname for the plan.

While Trump announced the plan side-by-side with Netanyahu, there was no Palestinian official on-hand at the White House ceremony.

The plan, the board wrote, would be nearly impossible for even the "the most pragmatic and exhausted" of Palestinians to accept.

"It takes only a glance at the map of the proposed Palestinian “state,” and at some details of the plan, to see that it would not be much of a state at all," the board wrote, which further called the state "a patchwork of ethnic islands, purportedly to be connected by bridges, roads and tunnels, all subject to security requirements, as defined by Israel."

"It would be, in other words, quite like what exists already."

Trump's "vision" unilaterally annuls previous UN resolutions on the Palestinian issue and has drawn criticism for giving Israel almost everything it has sought while giving Palestinian demands short shrift.

In addition to recognizing the contested city of Jerusalem as Israel's "undivided capital," Trump's plan ticks off a series of check-list items long-sought by Israel right-wingers, including U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over illegal settlement communities constructed in the occupied West Bank and the annexation of the Jordan Valley, which runs along the entirety of the territory's eastern flank.

International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Israeli settlement-building activity there illegal.

"For all its careful deliberations of the details, the plan hardly seems to hold out any real hope for meaningful Palestinian sovereignty or real improvement in their people’s condition," the Times' board wrote.

"The timing of this announcement, combined with the disregard for Palestinian interests and Mr. Trump’s poor record of follow-through on bold proposals (see: North Korea), does not augur a period of vigorous multilateral negotiation toward a true peace. Nor do the political travails of the American and Israeli leaders."