Last week the US Government released a document entitled Peace to Prosperity (January 2020) with a subtitle A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People.
Is this plan capable of ending this over‐70‐years conflict?
To answer that question one needs to understand what are the causes of this “conflict” removal of which would end it.
In reality there are two separate conflicts involving different parties and which arose at different times.
Conflict 1 is the result of the expulsion of under a million Palestinians from the Coastal Palestine, which became Israel in 1948.
This expulsion has resulted in the expelled Palestinians becoming “refugees”, and according to the UN Resolution 194, Article 11 these refugees should have been allowed to return to their original places of residence, or sufficiently compensated for the losses sustained.
This resolution had not been implemented, and the struggle of these displaced persons for the liberation of the land from which they had been expelled in 1948 on the one hand, and the defence by Israel of its existence on the other, had been the essence of this conflict up to 1967, when it had been compounded by another conflict — Conflict 2.
Conflict 2 had arisen in 1967 as a result of the occupation of the West Bank and some other parts of Palestine controlled by Jordan and other neighbouring countries. Resolution of the UN Security Council 242 required removal of the Israeli presence from these territories. This resolution has not been implemented up to now, and the continued Israeli occupation is the essence of this second conflict.
The proposed plan does not remove either of these causes. Instead it proposes that they be ignored and forgotten, and that the Palestinians accept this in exchange for a promise of better life in semi‐autonomous Israel‐controlled enclaves.
This proposal has already been rejected by the Palestinian leaders and the Arab League, the only “peace” that this plan can lead to is the one imposed by Israel/USA by force, which the Palestinians will continue to resist by whatever means are available to them — which means that the conflict will continue.
The question to be asked is: “Does this plan benefit Israel and the USA?”
Viewing the “conflict” as a game between two sides, one might say: “Of course it does! Are they not getting what they want?”
But looking at the real interests of Israel and the USA results in a different answer.
Those Jews who wanted a Jewish state in Palestine wanted a state populated and governed by Jews, not an endless conflict. But this plan does not yield such result.
To protect the State of Israel has been costing to the USA lives and treasure, and this plan will not put an end to this continuous sacrifice.
By continuing to support crimes against Palestinians and waging wars to change the Middle East in Israel's favour, the USA is damaging its own standing and influence on the world scene.
The plan does not end the conflict, and all the sides are the losers.
But, if the US Government had addressed the real causes of the conflict, they would have ended it once and for all by giving the Jews what they want and Arabs what is due to them, like that: Ending Israel‐Palestine Conflict.
Also see: articles on this subject.