Mladenov: Trump plan won’t be basis for Israeli-Palestinian talks

The plan, which puts forward a four-year process toward an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, “is a major shift” in the US paradigm, Mladenov said.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov (photo credit: screenshot)
UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov
(photo credit: screenshot)
Israeli annexation of any part of the West Bank would end the possibility of resuming Israeli-Palestinian negotiations toward a peace deal, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov said.
“Negotiations would become impossible if Israel were to move to unilaterally implement parts of the [US peace] plan,” Mladenov said.
He spoke in Tel Aviv at a conference sponsored by the Institute for National Security Studies about his concerns regarding the “Deal of the Century,” which US President Donald Trump revealed this week.
The plan, which puts forward a four-year process toward an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, “is a major shift” in the US paradigm of how it views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Mladenov said, adding that it was also a change to the international paradigm of the resolution to the conflict.
“Will it become the basis of negotiations between Israelis and the Palestinians? My bet is no,” Mladenov said.
Palestinian leaders and their public have rejected it, he said.
The plan “does meet every single red line that Israel has put in place for negotiations, but stops very far from addressing the concerns of the Palestinian side,” Mladenov said.
“If that were to change, I think negotiations are possible,” he said, adding that “negotiations would become impossible if Israel were to move to unilaterally implement parts of the plan,” he said.
The first danger is if the government would move to unilaterally annex the Jordan Valley and other parts of the West Bank.
“Were that to happen, it would close the door to negotiations,” Mladenov said.
Such a move would also have repercussions throughout the region, he added.
The UN is bound to the previous framework, based on Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements between the Israelis and Palestinians, he said.
The Trump peace plan, he said, changes the nature of the relationship between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. That relationship has been set for the last 27 years by the 1993 Oslo Accords.
But moving forward, that relationship would be set by a different paradigm.
“The nature of the relationship between the PA and Israel will change” because until now it has been “governed by principles and agreements that are put forward by Oslo,” Mladenov said.
The next weeks are critical for the future of the Israeli-Palestinian relationship.
“My real and sincere hope is that the prospect of a negotiated solution is not closed,” Mladenov said.