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Declare your initiative!

May 31,2019 - Last updated at May 31,2019

Much has been said and written about the Trump administration's "deal of the century", which is supposed to address the question of Palestine specifically, and the Arab-Israeli conflict generally, but until now nothing is known about the "deal", or the plan, itself.

All we hear are generalisations, guesses, conspiracy theories, etc.

This is weird, and it is neither helpful nor constructive.

There are many ways to reach a "deal". None of them is to keep those concerned totally in the dark.

The normal thing, the logical thing to do, is to come up with a proposal, a vision and then present it to the concerned to see what they think.

As a result of the negotiations, the shuttle diplomacy, and the honest brokering and intervention, an agreement or deal is reached, or not.

This is what normally happens in situations where there is conflict, and this is what previous US administrations did.

In the absence of such a clear, transparent mechanism, we are left, as prefaced above, with a lot of guesses, suspicion and ominous scenarios.

And this is in the interest of no one.

In the absence of the declaration of a proposal or a plan, the only "conclusion", based on the reading between the lines and the bad decisions taken by the Trump administration so far, the analyses of "experts" is the following: The Trump administration sides entirely with Israel, and is, therefore, intent upon either liquidating the Palestinian cause entirely, regardless of the consequences, or forcing the Palestinians to accept a "status" which falls short of what is expected and what is right.

Neither scenario will work, as conflict resolution can never be based on coercion or siding with one party to the conflict against another.

If, however, the aim behind keeping this "deal" a secret is simply bluffing and buying time in order to allow the Israelis to continue to swallow Palestinian and Arab land, and thus liquidate the Palestinian cause, and such a scenario has been suggested by some analysts, then this is also a bad, devious and dangerous approach.

It is time for the current US administration to wake up, live up to the challenge and either declare its proposal or "deal" and let the parties concerned decide which way to go, or stop playing childish or devious games.

Responsibility and transparency are key.

Stop wasting time, stop this farce and declare your initiative!

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