Alwaght- With Donald Trump departure and assumption of power by Joe Biden who persistently criticized his predecessor's foreign policy in his election campaign speeches, the world is now turning its attention to Biden government to see how it approaches the international issues. Among important international cases, one case the US government has not yet taken an official and cohesive stance on it is the crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories or what the West calls Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Now, however, several months after the Biden administration took office, the Al-Arabi Al-Jadid newspaper, citing some Arab and Western diplomats, has revealed the details of a new plan the White House is considering for the Palestinian issue.
By studying the details of the plan, it becomes clear that Biden is pursuing the same goals and procedures as did Trump in the "deal of the century, without regard to any special privileges for the Palestinian contained in the 2002 Arab peace plan, except that the Trump administration's approach to the implementation of the initiative was imperative and unilateral, but Biden administration tries to take into account the interests of opposing Arab countries.
As Trump ordered at a Riyadh conference, the puppet Arab regimes had to stop financial support to Palestine and end relations with anti-Israeli resistant movements. The Saudi move to blacklist Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas as terrorist organizations after Riyadh conference and also detaining Palestinian expats, as well as UAE and Bahrain normalization deals with the Israeli regime are responses to the Trump demands. Under the deal of century, Washington recognized the illegal Israeli settlements and full domination of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) by the Israelis, and closed down the office of the Palestinian Authority in the US to practically remove it from the political equations. At the same time, the right for the Palestinian refugees to return home unraveled under Trump.
The new plan, called "Long-Term Peace with the Palestinians," only shows some minor changes to the Trump initiative. In the new plan, instead of removing the Palestinian side from the equations, which led to the opposition to the Trump plan and a great humiliation for the pro-compromise side in Palestine and the region, the White House by stating that as soon as possible a Palestinian state should be formed and also resuming some halted aids for the Palestinian Authority under Trump seeks to get Fatah green light for returning to the negotiating table with Tel Aviv and stop further erosion of Palestinian Authority's legitimacy among the public.
Another change is incorporation of the interests of the opposing Arab countries into the deal. Under the new deal, the US entrusts coordination and control of the Palestinians with Jordan and Egypt that are involved in the Palestinian developments. Egypt will be responsible for security from Gaza side and thus will practically ensure the Israeli security in the face of threats coming from the resistant groups in the enclave. Jordan will be responsible for West Bank.
As can be seen, there is no reference to the return of Palestinian refugees and the situation of Palestinians living in the occupied territories. Under Trump initiative, Tel Aviv said it agrees to a Palestinian state without Eastern Al-Quds as its capital or return of millions of refugees. Now Biden initiative contains the same terms. The new deal is just a demagogic scheme to deceive the Palestinians into an agreement. The Israeli side has so far violated all of the past agreements and the new one is no exception.
Biden plan more dangerous than Trump’s
In an overall view, the plan Biden administration has unveiled practically pursues the same goal of the deal of the century, namely change of the regional balance of power in favor of the Israeli regime by seeking a fast resumption of the Arab-Israeli normalization. As the US shifts focus from West Asia to Russia and China, Washington follows a policy of coalition making to fill the vacuum, with ensuring Israeli security at its center. The so-called Abraham Accords and flow of large amounts of arms to the region for the US Arab allies serves this purpose.
With this in mind, Biden plan is not pursuing peace but change of the balance of power in favor of Tel Aviv and essentially regards no place for the Palestinian rights.
Meanwhile, what makes the new plan even more dangerous than that of Trump is the fact that the White House by engaging other players practically transfers the Israeli challenges to other states.
The plan will focus on long-term ceasefire in the occupied territories and strengthening of security coordination with Cairo on Gaza, as well as cooperation with Jordan on the situation in the occupied West Bank and the creation of an environment conducive to supporting the Palestinian Authority so that Egypt on a parallel security mission takes charge of the Palestinian territories' security and agrees on the type of management of the Palestinian Authority.
This will allow Tel Aviv to, without a mentionable change in its occupation and repression of the Palestinians, free up potentials for taking longer steps towards realization of normalization project with Arab world.
But what is not considered in the new US plan is the most important element that shattered the deal of the century, namely the Axis of Resistance in Palestine and the region. By its measures especially in the 11-day Israeli war on Gaza, not only did the Resistance camp destroyed the deal of the century and normalization project but also paved the way for expulsion of the US from the region and started the countdown to collapse of the Israeli regime. The Resistance imposed a fact clear to all: It is the Resistance not the pro-compromise camp that is determining in the Palestinian equations.
