Trump and Netanyahu reveal Israel-Palestine peace plan News
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Trump and Netanyahu reveal Israel-Palestine peace plan

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan titled “Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People” on Tuesday.

The plan notes the long history of conflict between the two states, claiming that it has “grown old [and] the arguments have become worn.” After providing some preliminary information, the plan turns to the political status of Jerusalem. Here, it explains that a “division of Jerusalem [between Palestine and Israel] would be inconsistent with the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, but maintains that an already existing barrier would suffice to provide a barrier between the states’ new capitals. Thus, Jerusalem would be the capital of Israel and the North East section of Jerusalem would be the capital of Palestine. Under the plan, the US would maintain embassies in both capitals and would “encourage other nations to relocate their embassies [to the proposed capitals].” The plan also proposed the increase of Palestinian territory but claimed that the US and Israel were not under the impression that they were required by law to provide Palestine with 100 percent of the state’s pre-1967 land.

The President and Prime Minister released a joint statement. First, Trump applauded Israel:

This is the first time Israel has authorized the release of a conceptual map, illustrating the territorial compromises it’s willing to make for the cause of peace. And they’ve gone a long way. This is an unprecedented and highly significant development.

Then, Netanyahu returned the compliment by saying that “[Trump has been] the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.”

As they presented the peace plan, Netanyahu was indicted in Israel on corruption charges and the Senate impeachment trial of Trump continued.