Trump trashes 2002 Arab Peace Initiative & UNSCR 2334 (2016)

The Emergency Arab Summit for Palestine hosted by Egypt on March 4 has ignored President Trump’s decisive stance on Gaza’s future - declared on February 4:

"The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. Level it out. Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area. Do a real job. Do something different. Just can’t go back. If you go back, it’s going to end up the same way it has for a hundred years."

Trump’s detailed plan could be realized by:

• The U.S. recognizing Israeli sovereignty over Gaza under Articles 6 and 25 of the 1922 Mandate for Palestine and Article 80 of the 1945 United Nations Charter.

• Israel granting America a 100-year lease of Gaza - restricting non-employee stays to no more than 30 days.

The Arab League's Stagnant Approach

Instead - the Emergency Summit’s final communiqué reiterated the Arab League's long-standing position - anchored in the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334:

"Our strategic priority is a just and comprehensive peace guaranteeing all rights of the Palestinian people. This includes their right to freedom, an independent and sovereign state on their national soil based on the two-state solution, and the right of return for Palestinian refugees. It also guarantees security for all in the region, including Israel, based on the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002."

While aspirational - these goals remain unattainable because the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative demands:

1.     Full Israeli withdrawal from all territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, returning to the June 4, 1967 lines, and vacating remaining Lebanese territories.

2.     A just resolution to the Palestinian refugee issue in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.

3.     A sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

An Emerging Alternative: The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine Solution

A more pragmatic alternative emerged in the Saudi-based Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine Solution (HKOPS) - proposed by Ali Shihabi an advisor to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Published in the Saudi-controlled Al Arabiya News on 8 June 2022 - HKOPS discards both the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy since 2002 and instead advocates merging Jordan, Gaza, and parts of the West Bank into a single entity called The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine.

Shihabi asserts:

"Jordanians and Palestinians are as similar as any people can be. They are Sunni Arabs from the same neighborhood. Merging them will not create any long-term ethnic or sectarian fault lines."

Israel's Rejection of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative

The Israeli Knesset rejected the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative 68-9 on 18 July 2024:

"The Knesset of Israel firmly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state west of Jordan. The establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of the Land of Israel will pose an existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and destabilize the region."

The Two-State Solution: A Defunct Concept

The two-state solutions proposed by the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and UNSCR 2334 are no longer viable. Gaza’s exclusion from HKOPS has jump-started HKOPS as the most realistic option to reshape the region’s geopolitical landscape and end the Arab-Jewish conflict.

The Arab world and the U.N. must acknowledge this shifting reality and engage with implementing HKOPS rather than clinging to outdated and unattainable proposals.

Thanks to ChatGPT for its assistance.

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