Opinion: Trump’s bold Israel-Palestine peace plan
Updated 15:13, 04-Jul-2018
Wang Jin
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Editor's note: Wang Jin is a research fellow at the Charhar Institute and Syria Research Center from Northwest University in China. The article reflects the author's opinion, and not necessarily the views of CGTN. 
As the son-in-law of US president Donald Trump and a core member of the US diplomatic team for Middle East affairs, Jared Kushner’s role in the country's policy towards the Middle East is critical.
With his latest visits to Jordan and Egypt, some details of the US plan for the Israel-Palestine peace process, or the “ultimate deal,” have been released. The details suggest the Trump administration's plan might be more aggressive and bolder than anything from Trump's predecessors. 
Traditionally, US policy in the Israel-Palestine peace process could be summarized as a “mediator.” The role usually involves proposing an ambiguous “roadmap” for the political representatives from both Israel and Palestine to bargain, with US officials accompanying direct negotiations between the two sides.
Under this framework, the US acted in Israel and Palestine as an “adviser” or “indirect participant.”
However, this strategy has failed to bring peace and stability to Israel and Palestine, while negotiations between the two sides have come to a stalemate as the internal political divisions between Israel and Palestine have widened.
June 29, 2018: Palestinian protesters demonstrate as they confront Israeli forces along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel./ VCG Photo 

June 29, 2018: Palestinian protesters demonstrate as they confront Israeli forces along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel./ VCG Photo 

Israel's political arena lacks a “strongman” able to support a peace plan over the opposition of other political parties and social groups, and Palestine is still obsessed by the internal division and split between Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza Strip. This has led to many failed attempts to bring the sides to a compromise. 
Against this backdrop, the Trump administration has decided to design a new strategy to facilitate “eternal peace” between Israel and Palestine.
Trump, advised by his Middle East affairs experts including Kushner, Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt and US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, has taken aggressive and bold measures to set up new foundations for a future Israel-Palestine peace process.
On the one hand, Trump and his Middle East team believe Jerusalem should be treated as Israel's capital, given that the city has been controlled and governed by Israel for more than half a century.
Trump’s decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May suggests the Trump administration’s determination to exclude Palestine’s legal claims from the future status of Jerusalem.
On the other hand, Trump seems to believe that the West Bank, part of which is still controlled by Israel and occupied by Jewish settlements, should be divided into an “Israel part” and “Palestine part,” while the Gaza Strip controlled by Hamas should be reunited with the rest of West Bank that controlled by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to form a new “Palestine state” in the future.
May 14, 2018: Demonstration against the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem at the Qalandia checkpoint located in the West Bank, between Jerusalem and Ramallah./ VCG Photo

May 14, 2018: Demonstration against the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem at the Qalandia checkpoint located in the West Bank, between Jerusalem and Ramallah./ VCG Photo

To make the “ultimate deal” plausible, Trump’s Middle East team has carried out intrusive research, as well as frequent visits not only to Israel and PA headquarters in the West Bank, but also to other Arab states with significant influence on Palestinians, such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The scheme of Trump’s Middle East team is to propose a detailed plan, or the “ultimate deal” first, and to persuade the Palestinians to accept it through the “carrot” of financial aid from both US and other Arab states, and the “stick” of US sanctions to the PA and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
However, the biggest challenge for the “ultimate deal” proposed by low-profile Kushner and Greenblatt is that no Palestinian leader, regardless of which political bloc, dares to accept it, or even dares to talk about it.
To accept the “ultimate deal” means to give up Jerusalem and other parts of Palestine territories that have been claimed by Palestinians for more than half a century, and it also means that Palestinians have to reconstruct their identity and historical memories to give up parts of their homeland.