The sound of one hand thudding
聽It appears the Palestinians and the Israelis have a brand new, but flawed, peace plan.
The supposed “Middle East Peace Plan” President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced last week in the White House was missing one key element though — input from the Palestinians.
Despite all of the glad-handing, and back-slapping between the indicted Netanyahu (“bribery and fraud and breach of trust”), and his impeached American counterpart (high crimes and misdemeanors) — their announcement didn’t help them overcome their current legal and political travails.
Nice try.
First, it’ll take a lot more than one accord to end the decades-long conflict between two factions that have been at each other’s throats since the 1967 Middle East War.
Second, if you forge an agreement, it helps if one of the participants in that agreement is part of the negotiations.
The Palestinians weren’t even at the negotiating table.
That’s truly the sound of one hand clapping, so to speak.
All of this is probably why, after the peace plan was revealed to great fanfare, Mahmoud Abbas — the Palestinian president — called the deal “nonsense.”
Then he got personal. “I say to Trump and Netanyahu: Jerusalem is not for sale, all our rights are not for bargaining,” said Abbas.
Well, then.
All of Netanyahu’s and Trump’s talk about the deal being a “historic opportunity” for the Palestinians – or, that it was “the deal of the century,” just might have been an affront to the Palestinians.
That’s understandable.
Here’s why I think that way.
It’s always amusing when Trump, during one of his political speeches he rifles through the nation’s unemployment numbers, and he feels obliged to add the fact that unemployment is at an all-time low for “Af-ri-can-Amer-i-cans.”
Not only does he say the phrase as if it’s part of a foreign language, but worse, somebody should tell him that nobody likes to be reminded what you do for them.
In fact, if recent polling is any example, that could really be turning off those “Af-ri-can-Amer-icans.”
And that’s even though they may have recently become gainfully employed.
According to a new Washington Post poll, 83% of African Americans say Trump is a racist. And 9 out of 10 disapprove of Trump’s overall job performance.
The same might be said for Hispanics, Asian-Americans, and women, who get one of his verbal pats on the head every time he boasts about the unemployment numbers.
I don’t think Mahmoud Abbas is susceptible to those pats on the head, either. Add to that the fact that the main U.S. architect of the peace plan is Trump’s son in law, Jared Kushner, and that, too, is a bit problematic.
Mr. Kushner has two titles. He’s the “Senior Advisor to the President,” and he’s the “Director of the Office of American Innovation,” whatever the heck that is. (It’s a new post that seems to cover a lot of things)
There’s some monumental irony here.
The Republicans have maintained that Trump withheld money from Ukraine because ex-Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, was unqualified for a position he held there. So, Trump wanted to find out more about it.
Isn’t that exactly what Trump did for his son in law — Kushner?
He’s now brokering “historic” peace deals, with no public policy experience whatsoever.
Kushner’s previous claim to fame was that he took control of his father’s real estate company after his father was convicted of fraud in 2005.
When he was asked about his qualifications recently, Kushner essentially said he’s a pretty good reader.
“I’ve been studying this now for three years. I’ve read 25 books on it, I’ve spoken to every leader in the region, I’ve spoken to everyone who’s been involved in this,” he told a reporter.
But his main qualification — the one he didn’t mention — is that he’s married to the daughter of the President of the United States of America.
And that’s not to forget that the president’s daughter, Ivanka, is, too, a “Senior Advisor to the President.”
Who knows what “peace plan” she could hatch?
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight and 20-year TV news veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.