By the Gazette Editorial Board When the Senior White House Adviser Jared Kushner took charge of the Middle East peace process, he said that Washington would press on with its plan with or without the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Kushner made several visits to the region to keep abreast of the reaction of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Israel to what he had to offer regarding the so-called ultimate deal, or deal of the century, as it is dubbed in the Arab media. The Trump Administration seemed to be counting on Saudi Arabia, its strong ally, to convince or rather pressure the Palestinian Authority to accept the deal in return for limiting Iran's influence in the region, particularly in Syria and Lebanon. That was an ill-grounded US assumption because Kushner's deal turned its back on Jerusalem and dealt with Gaza from a purely humanitarian perspective which ignored the continuity of Palestinian territories. The US peace plan suggested Abu Dis town near Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. The Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz's recent clear-cut rejection of the plan has stressed the fact that unless East Jerusalem would be the capital of an independent state of Palestine along the 1976 borders, none of the relevant Arab parties would support the plan. Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have repeatedly expressed their commitment to the 2002 Arab peace initiative. Egypt has been firm in its stand in this respect and President Sisi said at the National Youth Conference last week that Egypt would not back any plan which the Palestinians did not accept. The plan which Kushner worked on turned out to be totally unfair to the Palestinians and completely biased in favour of Israel. But it came as no surprise in the wake of Trump's rash decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move the US Embassy to the city. In all this the Trump Administration has failed to realise the fact that no Arab leader would ever abandon Jerusalem. The deal of the century has literally breathed its last even before it saw daylight. Therefore, the Arab leaders' unified stance over the futility of the suggested deal should be a point of strength for the Palestinians. This is the right moment for Fateh and Hamas to surmount their differences and close ranks in face of the ongoing US-Israeli manoeuvres aimed at depriving the Palestinians of their core rights. It is hoped that Egypt's continued efforts to broker an inter-Palestinian reconciliation will soon result in a concrete agreement. Cairo has been receiving delegates from Fateh and Hamas to address details of a possible reconciliation based on previous deals which failed to be implemented. The Palestinians should not waste this opportunity of a unified Arab stand against US-Israeli fantasies.
