Published: 10 February 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
“If it did, it would have been done in coordination and engagement also with the second party to the conflict, the Palestinians,” said a joint statement by 10 groups. “The proposal is a bi-lateral agreement between Israel and the United States; it leaves no room for Palestinian concerns or input.
“We express our deep concern” at the announcement. The proposal envisages extension of Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and all Jewish settlements in the West Bank and a non-contiguous and non-viable Palestinian state,” the statement added.
The signatories include Ameinu, the Australian Jewish Democratic Society, Habonim Dror Australia, Hashomer Hatzair Australia, J-Greens (Vic) Jewish Labour Bund, Jewish Voices for Peace & Justice (NSW), Meretz Australia, NIF Australia and SKIF Australia.
Robin Margo, a spokesperson for the signatories, said: “This so-called peace plan also countenances the transfer to a Palestinian state of some Israeli cities predominantly inhabited by Arabs and Palestinians, which utterly disrespects the status and rights of those people as non-Jewish citizens of Israel, breaches express assurances given in Israel’s Declaration of Independence of the State and is discriminatory and racist.”
The statement stands in sharp contrast to the response to the US proposal by senior executives of Australian peak community organisations the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) and the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA).
In an article published last week by the UK journal Fathom, Alex Ryvchin, the co-CEO OF ECAJ, wrote: “To be sure, it is the Palestinians who have the most to gain from securing a deal. The Jewish people have their national home… but the Palestinians remain stateless and stricken by all the consequences of such a condition.
“Not only did the Palestinian leadership reject Trump’s offer, they declined to counter-offer, or to even consider it a starting point for returning to negotiations,” he wrote.
Dr Bren Carlill, the Public Affairs Director of the ZFA, writing in the Australian Jewish News, acknowledged that the proposal was heavily weighted in favour of Israel. “However, according to its drafters, the plan is supposed to be a basis for negotiations, not a take-it-or-leave-it situation,” he wrote. “And while the Palestinians hate the plan, they will likely be pressured to negotiate.”
The joint statement by the alliance of advocacy groups stressed that Palestinians were not even part of the consultation process and their absence undermined any prospect of a genuine sustainable peace. “A durable, lasting peace has to be negotiated with the co-operation and trust of both parties,” they said.
Mr Margo added: “I agree with Daniel Levy, a former Israeli negotiator, that until one reads the entire document (and unless one knows the history of the conflict), it is hard to convey the depth of contempt and scorn the Trump document displays toward Palestinians.”
READ STATEMENT IN FULL
“DEAL OF THE CENTURY” IGNORES PALESTINIANS, NOT VIABLE
MORE DETAILED OBJECTIONS BY AUSTRALIAN JEWISH ORGANISATIONS TO PEACE PLAN
READ MORE
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