Trump’s 'ultimate deal' seen as ultimatum to Palestinians

A US team is in the process of finalising President Donald Trump's "ultimate deal" for peace between Palestinians and Israel, a Western diplomat and Palestinian officials have told Middle East Eye.

The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss the issue with the media, said that the deal will include:*    The establishment of a Palestinian state, whose borders will include the Gaza Strip as well as Areas A, B and parts of Area C in the West Bank (see map below)*    Donor countries to provide $10bn to establish the state and its infrastructure including an airport, asea port in Gaza, housing, agriculture, industrial areas and new cities*    The status of Jerusalem and the issue of returning refugees to be postponed until later negotiations*    Final negotiations to include regional peace talks between Israel and Arab countries, led by Saudi Arabia

The diplomat said that Jared Kushner, Trump's special adviser and head of his team for the peace process, visited Saudi Arabia recently and briefed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also known as MBS, about the plan.

Kushner also asked the Saudis to help persuade Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to accept the plan, which will be officially presented in early 2018.

The diplomat, who is very close to the US team, said bin Salman had met with Abbas in early November to brief him on the proposal. The crown prince asked the Palestinian president to accept the plan and be positive about it.

"MBS is very enthusiastic about the plan," the diplomat said, "and he is eager to see a peace deal between the Palestinians and Israel first, then between Israel and the Arab countries, as a first step in forming a coalition between Saudi Arabia and Israeli to counter the Iranian threat."Saudi need for support against Iran

The diplomat said that bin Salman told Kushner he is willing to invest large amounts of capital in the deal, and would give the Palestinian leadership the necessary incentives for a positive response.

Palestinian officials told MEE that Abbas met with bin Salman during his recent visit to Riyadh, which began on 8 November. There, he offered to increase Saudi financial support to the Palestinian Authority almost three-fold from $7.5m a month to $20m. 

Bin Salman told Abbas that the Iranian threat to Arab countries is serious, sources close to the talks said, and that Saudi was in serious need of support from the United States and Israel to face its "existential conflict" with Tehran. "We cannot have Israel on our side before solving the Palestinian-Israel conflict," the source reported the crown prince as saying. One Palestinian official said: "President Abbas believes the plan could be okay only if we add to it the words '1967 borders'. We are willing to give Israel time if they are willing to give us land.

"We told them, if the plan states clearly that the 'ultimate deal' is to have Palestinian statehood [based] on the 1967 borders with a slight land swap, [then] we will accept the first stage of it, which [is ] establishing a state with provisional borders."

The official, who is close to the talks, said the only Palestinian concerns were that Israel will make the provisional deal final.

Another Palestinian official said Abbas believes the plan, which was drafted by Kushner and Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt, initially originated from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "This is Netanyahu's plan and he sold it the US team and they are trying to sell it to the Palestinians and Arabs," the source said.Palestinians expect more pressure

The official added that the Palestinians are now expecting more pressure from Washington and Arab capitals.

"The US is waving sanctions against the Palestinians if they reject the plan, like shutting down the PLO mission office in Washington DC and stopping the financial aid to the Palestinian Authority," the source said.

"At the Camp David Talks in 2000, the Arabs supported late leader Yasser Arafat in facing the US pressure. But now, no one is standing alongside us."

The source said that in 2000, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdallah told Arafat: 'We accept only what the Palestinians accept.'"But now the Saudi king is drowning in the conflict with Iran in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq and the Egyptian president is drowning in Sinai."

Relations between Saudi and Israel have eased during the past few months with a flurry of contacts and unprecedented visits to Saudi by senior Israelis.

On 16 November, Gadi Eizenkot, Israel's chief of general staff, said that the country was ready to share "intelligence information" with Saudi Arabia and that both countries had a common interest in opposing Iran.