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Opinion

Trump’s Palestinian Peace Plan in Peril

Even though the details of the plan have yet to be made public, the Palestinian leadership has already announced that they’re against it.
Trump’s Palestinian Peace Plan in Peril
In this handout image provided by the Palestinian Press Office (PPO), Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) meets with Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, on June 21, 2017 in Ramallah, West Bank. Thaer Ghanaim/PPO via Getty Images
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Donald Trump knows a big real estate deal when he sees it, and what bigger deal is there in the world than a Palestinian-Israeli peace plan? It’s all about land and money, so how tough could it be?

A Major Inconvenience

Trump’s plan was supposed to be launched June 23, but there’s a huge problem. Actually, there are several. For one, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a government within the legal time period after winning re-election, so there’s no Israeli government to approve the deal, regardless of what the Palestinians may or may not do.
Netanyahu now faces another election scheduled for September 17th. This fact alone undercut Trump’s peace plan debut. But even if he wins again, will he be able to form a government then? What will be different from now? Or, what if a center-left or leftist opponent beats Netanyahu in September? It’s not likely that they’d support Trump’s plan, whatever it may be.
James Gorrie
James Gorrie
Author
James R. Gorrie is the author of “The China Crisis” (Wiley, 2013) and writes on his blog, TheBananaRepublican.com. He is based in Southern California.
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