The plan of the US president Donald Trump for a political deal between Israel and the Palestinians, dubbed the “Deal of the Century,” includes two chapters: the first— economic—will be revealed in Bahrain in a workshop to be held at the end of June; the second—political—includes reference to the sensitive issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and its launch has been postponed apparently until after the elections and the establishment of a government in Israel in late 2019.

The details leaked about the plan indicate that it takes into account the positions of the Israeli government and Israel’s security needs and also recognizes the reality that has evolved on the ground during the past fifty years. This is the reason that Palestinian officials have announced that they will not accept the plan. The US ambassador to Israel declared this week that “under certain circumstances […] Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank.” The ambassador’s remarks hint that if a right-wing government is elected in Israel, it will respond without precedence to another Palestinian rejection of the proposed arrangement by applying Israeli law over the areas of the settlements. The meaning of this move is annexation, and it is expected to cause a chain of the most negative consequences for Israel.

Read the full article at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).