The absurd «Deal of the Century», to the terms of which «Voice of Islam» plans to dedicate a separate publication, was not needed by the Arabs, nor by the Zionist Jews (there are also non-Zionist and even anti-Zionist Jews). It was needed only by two people and their teams — Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.
An article in the newspaper «Times of Israel» (https://www.timesofisrael.com/who-needs-the-deal-of-the-century-right-now-only-two-people/) presents a critical Jewish-Zionist view of this deal, in addition to the critical Arab view that we wrote about yesterday (https://golosislama.com/news.php?id=37963) and more than once.
The main idea of the article is that the unwritten equilibrium that has emerged in Palestine in recent years suits both sides. For the Zionists, everything is clear — they are successfully colonizing the West Bank, increasing the number of so-called Jewish settlements and settlers. However, the author claims that the ongoing «normalization of the occupation» generally satisfies many Palestinians — enough for them not to risk their established lives in the struggle against it.
In particular, he argues that the removal of Israeli checkpoints between Palestinian areas in the West Bank has allowed many Palestinians to live a normal life that was previously inaccessible. Today, he writes, 95% of young Palestinians have smartphones, markets are bursting with products, new restaurants and hotels are opening, and real estate prices are rising.
In the Palestinian Authority, official unemployment is relatively high — only 18% of the working-age population. But a significant number of Palestinians work in Israel, including illegally, to which the Israeli authorities turn a blind eye under informal agreements with the PA. In total, there are 70-80 thousand legally employed Palestinians, 30-40 thousand illegal workers, and another 30 thousand Palestinians working in Jewish settlements in Palestine itself. These people have sufficiently high incomes by local standards to make them uninterested in destroying their well-being.
But it would seem that, on the contrary, it follows from all the above that Israel, with the support of the United States, can use its military superiority and the economic dependence of the West Bank Palestinians to impose favorable conditions for «peace» on Palestine today. However, the author is well aware that this is unrealistic, and that the same Palestinians who are willing to practically reconcile with the occupation, since they are currently powerless to oppose it, will never agree to recognize it as the norm and give up the idea of an independent Palestine.
And this means that an attempt to impose on them an unacceptable «deal of the century» can only destroy the fragile balance that de facto suits not only the Palestinians but also the Zionist Jews. What no one needs except Netanyahu, who needs additional points before the next elections, or Trump, who wants to attribute to himself this dubious success in Middle East politics.
Of course, the question may arise — is the principled stance of those Palestinians who are willing to reconcile practically with the occupation and benefit from its advantages, but refuse to officially recognize and accept it, hypocrisy? From an infantile point of view, of course it is, but it must be understood that in such matters the effectiveness of politics is often determined not in the short term, but over a long distance — decades and sometimes centuries. For example, the Germans, who were practically reconciled to the occupation of East Germany after the war, did not give up the task of its reunification, even when it seemed unattainable, and finally achieved it after four decades, when the Soviet empire began to crumble. Similarly, no Azerbaijani who does not want to fight for Nagorno-Karabakh now, when Russia is supporting Armenia, will give up his right to it and dream of its return. Just as Ukrainian patriots do not and will not give up Crimea, even though it seems that Ukraine has no chance to regain it. Therefore, of course, the «deal of the century,» which is already absurd in that it is unclear who, with whom, and on whose behalf it is being made, will be rejected by the entire Arab world, including those segments that are currently de facto interested in cooperation rather than war with Israel.