This week, U.S. President Donald Trump presented his long-awaited #>PeaceSham and vowed to keep Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
In a press conference at the White House alongside Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump shared his proposal, a one-sided, Israeli-endorsed plan marketed as a peaceful one. Trump expressed his belief in a two-state solution, called Israel a "thriving center of democracy," and said "Palestinians deserve a better life." But he is forgetting that his proposal offers nothing in favor of the Palestinians.
It neither provides displaced Palestinians a "right of return" nor does it allow for the sovereign "state of Palestine" to form a military. Yes, Trump did use the term "state" but in reality, what he was offering Palestinians was limited autonomy. Trump insists it is a "win-win" opportunity for both Israel and Palestine, except it really isn't.
"While the Deal of the Century is worrying and its repercussions will surely have a long-term impact, it's important for everyone to remember that Palestinians are resisting every day just by existing and enduring and refusing to give in," a 21-year-old Palestinian told StepFeed.
We spoke to two Palestinians to get their thoughts on Trump's proposed plan, and here's what they said:
On the proposed peace plan
A 29-year-old Palestinian/Lebanese, Nadim Mansour, laid out his thoughts very simply in a statement to StepFeed.
"A peace plan that doesn't involve Palestinians is not a feasible peace plan. A peace plan should include all parties," he said.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected the proposed peace plan, calling it "the slap of the century." There is not one Palestinian on Trump's side (obviously). The fact that Trump announced his proposal alongside Netanyahu and in the absence of Abbas is proof of just how excluded Palestinians really are in this #PeaceSham.
Mansour added that the proposed peace plan encourages the stealing of more Palestinian land and further erasure of its history. The 29-year-old shed light on Palestinian refugees, saying that with this proposal they will still "be left without their land and country" because Trump hasn't acknowledged their "right of return."
Nooran Alhamdan, a 21-year-old Palestinian student in the U.S., agrees with Mansour. "Palestinians will lose more territory, more freedom of movement and have to give up key demands that were a non-sequitur in negotiations before the status of Jerusalem, settlements, borders and the Palestinian right of return," she explained.
The proposed plan is really just "an American stamp of approval of the continuation of the occupation and apartheid. The only difference now is that it is formalized by means of annexation," Alhamdan added.
Trump's proposal endorses Israel's continued illegal settlements in Palestinian territory. The settlements, a strong point of contention between Israelis and Palestinians, are >considered illegal under international law.
The United Nations (UN) and many countries around the world continually condemn the expansion of settlements, which demolish homes and steal lands from Palestinians. Towards the end of 2019, the U.S. >stopped acknowledging the settlements' illegality. In the proposed plan, the illegal settlements are called "enclave communities" and they're all over Palestinian territory.
Also, with Trump's proposal, Israel gets more land in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank.
On a two-state solution
Mansour believes that a two-state solution is just not possible.
"It is one land and thus, only one state should exist. Israeli politics and its treatment of Palestinians is leading and will continue to lead to the failure of a so-called two-state solution," the 29-year-old said.
Alhamdan also does not believe - and has never believed - in a two-state solution.
"I don't believe in a two-state solution because as evidenced by Trump's deal, it is simply the creation of a cage for Palestinians, and we are being humored for decades by the Israelis and Americans who are giving us options on how to decorate that cage. But we don't want to be caged. We want freedom," the 21-year-old said.
Alhamdan reiterated that the division of the land without consultation of the people living on it is "what sparked this entire conflict."
"Palestinians had no reason to be willing to give up 56 percent of their land in 1948 and there is no reason to expect that they would accept 22 percent of their land on 1967 borders or the current amount of land proposed by the Deal of the Century, which commentators joke about as a Palestinian archipelago because the land is so unevenly divided and cut up," she added.
On Jerusalem as Israel's capital
In 2017, Trump said the U.S. will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel; with the recent proposal, he is pushing for that more concretely than ever. He wants it to become a reality, but Alhamdan firmly maintains her disapproval of Trump's plans.
"Jerusalem isn't just a religious symbol or a place we hope to have as a capital. Jerusalem is the hopes and dreams of the entire Palestinian people, and no one, not Trump, not Netanyahu, not Jared Kushner, can ever take Jerusalem away from us."
"Jerusalem is freedom and hope and love, everything that the Israeli occupation is not."
For years, the fate of the ancient city has been in a constant state of tug-of-war. The western part of Jerusalem was captured by Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war; following the 1967 Six-Day-War, East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel, removing the fence that split the ancient city into two. The international community has not recognized East Jerusalem as part of Israel since. Rather, it is treated as occupied territory.
"We will keep fighting till we get our land back. Jerusalem was and will always be the capital of Palestine," Mansour said.
Alhamdan shed light on the thousands of Palestinians in East Jerusalem who "live in terror of being driven out of their homes, of having their homes confiscated by settlers, of having their homes demolished."
Israel has destroyed tens of Palestinian homes over the decades. Things were no different in 2019. In July of that year, occupying forces >entered the Palestinian village of Sur Bahir to evacuate people before planting explosives and starting the demolitions. Tens of bulldozers then brought down the homes in the area, which is located in the Wadi Hummus neighborhood — close to the wall that separates the West Bank from Jerusalem.
Despite local protests and international criticism surrounding the move, Israel went ahead with the demolitions, claiming the homes were too close to its apartheid wall.
Saving the apartheid wall seems to be more important than giving Palestinians the right to a safe, stable, and secure life and more important than giving them their homeland back.