‘Mix of tragedy & farce’: Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ is set to cause outrage, but won’t change anything – George Galloway
28 Jan, 2020 23:09 RT
‘Mix of tragedy & farce’: Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ is set to cause outrage, but won’t change anything – George Galloway
A Palestinian demonstrator reacts during a protest against the U.S. President Donald Trump's Mideast peace plan, in the southern Gaza Strip January 28, 2020. © REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
While Donald Trump’s ‘peace plan’ from Israel and Palestine violates international law in every possible way, its only result will be a widespread outrage among the Muslims since it’s impossible to implement, George Galloway says.
The pompous unveiling of the peace plan by US President Donald Trump and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu looked like a true “mixture of tragedy and farce,” former Labour MP told RT on Tuesday.
The two embattled politicians – one facing impeachment and the other entangled in a bribery case – did not miss the opportunity to have a joint PR stunt, but only managed to stomp on the international law and agreements such as the Oslo Accords that established the Palestinian Authority “just like the JCPOA, the nuclear deal [that] was ripped up by President Trump,” Galloway told RT.
He added that the occupied Palestinian territories remain occupied de jure, regardless of how long Israel clings onto them.
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“It completely reverses international law, which states very clearly the inadmissibility of acquiring territory by force and illegally settling that territory. All of that has been reversed," Galloway said. "So, for a property man Trump showed a very poor grasp of the property law.”
Trump’s gaffe with the Al-Aqsa mosque – one of the main holy sites for Muslims – only reinforced the impression that the US president poorly understands the whole complexity of the Palestinian issue, Galloway believes.
“When President Trump referred to an ‘Al-Aqua’ mosque – which was a rather wet joke – making clear that he has no understanding whatsoever that the Al-Aqsa mosque is one of the holiest shrines in Islam, therefore placing it under Israeli sovereignty infuriates the best part of 2 billion Muslims in the world.”
Ambiguous wording the US President used on the issue of Palestinian capital – promising to open an embassy in “eastern” Jerusalem while calling the city “Israel’s undivided capital” – however, was likely intended, Galloway suggests.
The US unilateral decision to recognize East Jerusalem as Israeli territory is unlikely to be accepted by anyone except for Israel and Washington themselves, both due to the religious importance of the city and the existing international law.
“Jerusalem is a city, it has west and east. The east is occupied by force for 53 years, but it remains occupied and nothing that Donald Trump can say can change that. The Security Council will never accept it, the European Union will never accept it, the Arabs will never accept it – even the most obeisant of them can never accept that,” Galloway said.
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While the ambitious announcement of the “deal of the century” is likely to spark a “furious” reaction across the region, it’s unlikely to have any actual effect and change the situation on the ground, Galloway believes. Trump’s administration will be simply unable to implement the ‘deal’ by any means – even if he manages to secure the second presidential term – and no Palestinian leaders would dare to try and impose it on their people.
“Nothing changes as a result of this, at least de facto," the former MP added. "De jure, between the US and Israel it writes new crimes into the book, but it doesn’t change anything on the ground.”
