‘Trump’s Peace Plan Serves Domestic Political Compulsions, Hands Netanyahu A Lifeline’

NEW DELHI: The fact that President Donald Trump’s peace plan is not likely to be accepted by the Palestinian people, nor bring peace to the Middle-East is something that may be of secondary importance to him. As Arun K Singh, former ambassador to the U.S. and Israel, tells Surya Gangadharan and Ashwin Ahmad, the plan’s aim is to address the U.S. president’s political compulsions and show him as a person who comes up with different ideas to major world problems. And by virtue of giving Israel virtually everything – the plan recognises Jerusalem as the capital, Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights – Trump has not only sought to win over the Jewish vote in the US who have traditionally voted Democrat, but also reassure his core evangelical Christian community vote-bank at home. Trump aside, the plan also offers Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a lifeline. Troubled by allegations of corruption at home, the embattled Netanyahu can show the plan as concessions he was able to demand from the U.S. president and succeed.