US angers Israel by suggesting an eastern border for the Zionist state

The Trump administration has been rebuked for making “excessive demand” on Israel over the final boundary in its eastern border. The White House has outraged Israeli officials by pushing for a joint US-Israeli mapping team to delineate the boundaries of the areas to be placed under Israeli sovereignty and designated as the final borders of the State of Israel

The proposal angered hardcore Zionists who are staunchly opposed to the idea of a Palestinian state just as equally as they are opposed to placing any restrictions on Israel’s complete takeover of Palestine.

Under the peace plan of US President Donald Trump, Israel is expected to apply sovereignty over approximately 30 per cent of the West Bank, including the Jordan Valley, Dead Sea coast and all Israeli towns beyond the pre-1967 Green Line. Washington also unilaterally granted Tel Aviv full sovereignty over Jerusalem, a move which along with Israel’s annexation of any territory beyond the 1967 Green Line, is deemed illegal under international law.

In keeping with the Trump administration’s peace plan, Washington will recognise Israeli sovereignty in these areas, while requiring Israel not to expand towns or establish new illegal settlements outside of the areas delineated for sovereignty for a period of four years, leaving the door open to final status negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

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Despite Washington catering to all of Israel’s demands, which Palestinians say undermines any chance of a resolution based on international law and previous UN resolutions, Israeli officials are not satisfied. They are particularly annoyed by the suggestion that finalising the border of the Zionist state means an end of the dream of seizing all of the territory referred to by right-wing Israelis and religious fundamentalists as Judea and Samaria; a biblical term for the occupied West Bank.

Israeli officials cited in Arutz Sheva are reported saying that the new demand being pushed by the US mapping team was part of a series of measures that are “unfavorable to Israel”. Scott Leith, a senior advisor to the US National Security Council on the Israel-Arab conflict, was named as the official responsible for the new measures.

Regional Council chief Yossi Dagan, who is lobbying against the peace plan’s provision for the establishment of a Palestinian state, is reported saying that the American request “was further proof” that the US is “slowly making its demands harsher and in so doing is harming the basic interests of the State of Israel”.

Dagan called on Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to apply sovereignty immediately – with or without American support, Arutz Sheva reported.

“The ball is always in Jerusalem’s court,” said Dagan. “With all due respect to the US and its friendship [with Israel], Israel is a sovereign state, not a banana republic of the US. The excessive demands of the US and its interference in setting Israel’s borders are beyond what is acceptable between friends, even good friends.”

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