‘Deal of the century’ backfires on Israel’s Netanyahu

US President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century” has backfired on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli analysts said, pointing out that has propelled the Palestinian cause to the top of the international agenda, Al-Mesryoon reported yesterday.

According to the Egyptian newspaper, Israeli analyst Ehud Yaari told Israel’s Channel 12 that “the weakest president [Mahmoud Abbas] controlled the leaders of the region [Arab leaders] and dragged them to issue a statement [by the Arab League] that rejects the deal.”

He added: “This is a slap for Netanyahu. This is a big achievement at the Arab level because the statement of the Arab League would pave the way ahead of the OIC and the UN to issue a similar statement. If this happened, it would mean the abortion of the deal.”

Other Israeli analysts said that the deal reflects the “ignorance” of its makers regarding the situation on the ground in relation to the Israeli-Arab conflict, stressing that Netanyahu would lose the upcoming elections as a result of the deal.

READ: Arab envoys who accepted US ‘peace plan’ reject it after learning full details

Military analyst Roni Daniel said: “The American billionaires came to us, attempting to make deals with us thinking that we are puppets. They attempted to gamble with us.”

He added: “The deal of the century backfired on Netanyahu. They [Arab citizens in Israel] told him not to annex the West Bank and the settlers announced they would not give 70 per cent of the West Bank to the Palestinians. Therefore, he will lose the votes of the Arabs and the settlers.”

Dana Vice, the Israeli analyst of political affairs, said: “The Americans helped the Arabs and Netanyahu will never have the courage to say no to the two-state solution.”