Recently, the American plan for peace in the Middle East was discovered. The media talks about a ten points plan which assures a Palestinian state in the summer of 2011.[singlepic id=56 w=320 h=240 float=right] The plan was not approved by the White House and is supposed to be declared in the end of the current month.

However, if the plan is similar to what was discovered until today then it will face huge difficulties and a wide Arab refusal of accepting it as a final solution for a conflict which lasted for sixty years. The plan does not give any Palestinian authority over East Jerusalem and prefers to suggest that Israel is to keep its control of some of the neighbors while Arabs which are in other words Jordanians are to control other areas in the holy city.

This suggestion erases what is considered the first basic demand of the Palestinians in order to reach peace with Israel and stop their revolution. The plan assures that international forces are to control several parts of the Jordan valley and the West Bank. This means that the new promised Palestinian state will be surrounded by Israeli air forces from the air and international forces from the land. This does not seem as the biggest obstacle in this suggestion although it contradicts with the basic needs for any state to be considered independent and democratic.

The plan states that all the Palestinian movements must be turned into Political parties. This action will bring a lot of chaos and obstacles since the Palestinian movements will never agree on the suggested plan which does not give the minimum of what they ask for in order to reach peace with Israel. The worst two points are that refugees will have to settle down in some areas between the cities of the West Bank while huge Israeli settlements will be kept in the West Bank.

The plan says that after signing an agreement Israel will have to release the Palestinian prisoners in three years. Even though the United States seems to fail in convincing Israel to stop its settlements activities in the West Bank, I will discuss the plan that seems to be completely refused by Israel although it gives nothing more than twenty percent of the historical land of Palestine. Israel continues to give permissions to settlement’s building while its official such as Sylvan Shalom hold conferences to assure that settlements are the heart of Israel.

President Obama should revise his administration plan and come out with something which will look more balanced and convincing. The plan says that Palestinian refugees are not to return to their homes and some of them will be given a permission to return only to the lands between Ramallah and Nablus. On the other side the plan assures that the Israeli huge settlements will be kept and that Israel will not leave them.

So Palestinians will have to surrender their right in the 1948 occupied lands and will have to manage themselves in ghettos between the Israeli settlements on the West Bank lands which are supposed to be the future Palestinian state territories. East Jerusalem is completely ignored since Palestinians are not mentioned as the right owners of it. Instead Israelis are promised to stay there and other Arabs are to take responsibility of the administrational affairs of some areas. Does this even look different from today’s situation? Definitely no.

The International law states clearly that in order to consider a body a state it must be set on clear borders, has a people, an economy, and a political system, and a complete sovereignty over its territories. What this plan suggests seems as autonomy under the supervision of Israel, so why do we call it a Palestinian state? If this is what the plan suggests so why don’t we go back the one state solution and end this long conflict.

There will be no wall and Israelis will have the right to live anywhere in the West Bank exactly as Palestinians will have the right to live in anywhere in the whole land of Palestine…Doesn’t this sound more like justice and equality? Any suggested plan must be fair in order to find success because no one will dare to take responsibility of giving Jerusalem as a gift to Israel after a long conflict and surrender the right of millions of Palestinian refugees.

So if it is too hard for the Israelis to share this land with the Palestinians, it would be better to reconsider the one state solution which will show how equality and justice can be made.

Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad

A Palestinian-Arab living in East Jerusalem, Ziad graduated from College Des Freres in Jerusalem in 2003. Ziad finished his major in International Relations and English Literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ziad is a former President of the Watan student movement at the university. He is interested in Middle Eastern political issues and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Founder of the Middle East Post and MEL (Middle East Future Leadership Network), he represents Palestinian youth at several international conferences.

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