This week, President Trump revealed his much-awaited, much-delayed “peace plan.” While the details were largely known for months, we are still digesting the impact of its announcement.
The New Israel Fund has always stood for a democratic, equal, and just Israel. But the Trump administration instead have offered Israeli officials and the radical settler right a free pass to march in the opposite direction: toward annexation.
In a video we launched on social media yesterday – and already with thousands of views – Talia Sasson, past NIF president and former senior lawyer in Israel’s justice ministry, gives a 90 second explainer on what annexation will mean for Israel:
This plan threatens to make the occupation of the Palestinian territories permanent. If it becomes reality, there will be no two-state solution. This will cripple Israeli democracy by putting Israel in permanent control over the lives of millions of Palestinians who will have no right to vote for their own future. This is not the vision of Israel’s founders. It is not the vision of those of us who love and care about the state of Israel.
The reactions of Israeli civil society have been swift to condemn this plan. Here are just a few statements by NIFC’s funded partners:
“It is not in the purview of Israel and the United States to make decisions that break international law and trample on human rights. In addition, the Israeli government certainly is not permitted to negate the citizenship and rights of non-Jewish citizens of the state. This is a victory for anyone who has taken part in the Israeli settlement enterprise, which is, in its entirety, an illegal project of land left and harm to human rights.” – ACRI
“The ‘Jerusalem’ that the program offers to Palestinians refers to areas that the separation wall cuts off from the city…the implication of this process would be to sever – to literally cut off – a third of the city’s Palestinian population. This is anything but a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem.” – Ir Amim
“Trump advanced his “peace” plan without even talking to the Palestinians – so it’s no surprise the plan is a roadmap for apartheid and annexation. The plan promotes revoking citizenship from hundreds of thousands of Arab citizens of Israel, makes settlements permanent, and shatters the Palestinian state to disconnected enclaves. [W]e must raise a clear and loud voice against annexation, and for a future of justice and democracy…” – Zazim
“…There are many ways to end the occupation, but the only legitimate options are those based on equality and human rights for all. This is why the current plan which legitimizes, entrenches and even expands the scope of Israel’s human rights abuses, perpetuated now for over 52 years, is utterly unacceptable.” – B’Tselem
Click here to read more articles, as well as expert resources, by our Israeli partners.
The choice that has been available to Israel since 1967 remains clear: Israelis must choose between Israel’s Jewish character, its democracy, and its control over the Palestinian territories. Israel can choose two, but not all three.
No unbalanced presidential edict disguised as a ‘peace plan’ will obscure this choice and no Israeli government will escape it.
We will continue to keep you updated in this matter and all the others that affect Israel’s democratic future.