Global Geopolitical Series: key highlights from leaked ‘deal of the century’

The Trump administration in the United States is close to revealing its much-awaited ‘deal of the century’ plan that aims to end the decades-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians by fostering a peace agreement. President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is also the President’s special envoy to the cause, has said that the peace plan would be revealed after the end of Ramadan, which ends early June.

However, the plan which was circulated by Israeli foreign ministry internally got allegedly leaked and was published by ‘Israel Hayom’, a Hebrew language newspaper based out of Israel.

Here are some of the highlights from the allegedly leaked draft,

• The agreement would be a tripartite one, which will be signed by Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.
• Under the agreement, a sovereign state of Palestine will be established in West Bank and Gaza, excluding the current Israeli settlements. The settlements in the West Bank would become part of Israel.
• Jerusalem will not be divided into eastern and western parts but will be shared by both sides under Israeli supervision.
• Palestinians living in Jerusalem would be citizens of the Palestinian state but Israel would remain in charge of the municipality and therefore the land.
• The newly formed Palestinian state would pay taxes to the Israeli municipality in order to be in charge of education in the city for Palestinians.

Here are the details on infrastructure:

• Egypt will offer the new Palestinian state land to build an airport, factories and for agriculture which will service the Gaza Strip.
• A highway would be built to connect the Gaza Strip to the West Bank 30 meters above Israel. Funding for the project will mainly come from China, which will pay 50 percent of the cost, with South Korea, Australia, Canada, the US, and EU each paying a ten percent each.
• The US, EU, and Gulf states would fund and sponsor the deal for five years to establish the newly formed state of Palestine at a cost of $6 billion per year. 70 percent of the cost would be borne by the Gulf States. U.S. will pay 20 percent and the EU would pay remaining 10 percent.
• Palestine would not be allowed to form an army but can form a police state. The newly formed state would sign a defense agreement with Israel, which in turn would protect the territory from any foreign attacks.
• All borders between the Gaza Strip and Egypt and Israel would remain open to people and goods and Palestinians would be able to use Israeli air and seaports.
• Elections would be held in Palestine within a year of signing the agreement.