Trump’s deal aims to marginalize Palestinians, says expert

By Riyaz ul Khaliq
ANKARA (AA) – Even as the U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced his controversial plan for Palestine, commentators said the so-called deal was aimed at rescuing beleaguered Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu from corruption charges and also to help him in the upcoming elections.
“Trump is trying to boost the position of Netanyahu in the elections scheduled in March by projecting him getting all that Israeli far-right groups have been demanding. Therefore, he should have the mandate to become the next prime minister again,” said Sami al-Arian, director of Istanbul-based Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA).
Arian said the move will also save Netanyahu from going to prison because of the corruption charges.
However, Arian added that the reason to also invite Netanyahu’s rival Blue and White leader Benny Gantz was trying to send a message that the U.S. did not want to manipulate Israeli elections.
Arian, a Palestinian himself, said that the so-called deal of the century will marginalize the Palestinians.
“It is to jump over them, and try to get other regional powers, especially Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, and possibly Jordan to buy into this to bypass the Palestinians and do not have to deal with any kind of final status issues,” said the CIGA director who lived in U.S. for over four decades.
The commentator who was at the forefront of the pro-Palestinian activism in the U.S. termed the relationship between Israel and the U.S. as 'very complicated'.

-The U.S. wants to see strong Israel
He said there that the U.S. wants to see a strong Israel in the Middle East to implement its objective in the region.
“And I think there are many examples by which there is an attempt by colonialist powers to impose their will but what happens is that people resist back and I think what we are going to see here is massive resistance not only from the Palestinians but also from people across the region, “he added.
Arian said he expects a huge backlash against this plan.
“And that the result is going to be not only at the regional level but also international level. And I think in the end, this is going to propel people to accelerate the resistance. And I believe that with the death of the two-state solution, this is going to change the regional map,” he added.
The CIGA director said that the Bahrain conference hosted by Trump’s son-in-law effectively ended the Oslo process.
“His [Jured Kushner] figure was about $50 billion in which about $27 billion will be offered to the Palestinian people over a 10-year period which when you divide it up by the number of Palestinians, it would be about less than $100 over 10 years for every Palestinian,” he said.
“The Palestinians are getting more now than what they are being offered just simply by staying steadfast.”