The Trump deal and the Palestinian citizens of Israel

On page 13 of the “Deal of the Century,” almost as an afterthought, hidden among all the clauses about annexations and a conditional Palestinian state, the President of the United States brings up the vision of transfer, and then adds a justification to this that should shock any Jewish person living in the United States. This is something that is astounding in and of itself, when you take into account that the four architects of the agreement: Ambassador Friedman, son-in-law Kushner, and emissaries Greenblatt and Berkowitz are all themselves Jewish Americans.

Trump is proposing the option of an exchange of land in which Wadi Ara (the northern triangle), along with the southern triangle up to Kafr Qasem, will be transferred along with its residents (because according to this plan of course no one is vacating his home) to the State of Palestine. Not a personal transfer where a resident is thrown out of his home, but rather a collective transfer is what he proposes, throwing citizens out of their own country.

And then comes the justification: Anyway, don’t you know that they define themselves as Palestinians? So they should move to live in Palestine! Just like that. According to this rationale it is incumbent on the four drafters of the agreement to leave their positions in a country where they are citizens, and they should emigrate, excuse me, make aliyah, to their real country, which is the State of Israel – defined in the Trump plan as the Jewish state.

Each one of the program’s authors, as is true for the overwhelming majority of Jews in the United states (who are almost 40% of the Jewish people), defines himself as a “Jewish American.” And where is someone who defines himself as a Jew supposed to be? Obviously in the Jewish State…I am guessing that for many of us this sounds like antisemitism!

But this is the exact rationale in the plan in relation to the Arabs living in the triangle. More than 70% of Arabs in Israel define themselves this way: “Palestinian citizens of Israel.” They define themselves as part of the Palestinian people whose citizenship is Israeli. Ninety percent of them do not want to live in the State of Palestine, they want to live in the State of Israel. It is true that they really do not accept the discrimination against them, not the Nation State Law defining them as Class B citizens in this Basic Law, nor the budgetary discrimination that is a structural part of the national budget. They demand equality, exactly as promised by Israel, expressed in the Declaration of Independence, expressed but never upheld.

The message from the Arab citizens to the State of Israel is: “We are an indigenous population. We were born here; our parents were born here and dozens of generations before us were born here. This is our home; it was our home and it will always be our home. We have no expectation and most of us also have no wish for Jews to disappear from here. Israel is our country and we are asking to be part of it as equal citizens. And when we speak of equal rights the intention is to both personal rights and collective rights. Just like any recognized national minority has in countries around the world.”

And the message from Trump’s plan? You call yourself Palestinian – so get yourself to Palestine. Leave your land, leave your country, leave your roots, leave the many connections you have created with your Jewish neighbors and friends – go off to Palestine.

And now think again about Jews in the United States – 100 years of a Jewish home, which is pluralistic, more connected to Judaism than very many Jews who live in Israel. Picture this – the American government comes to you and tells you: You define yourselves as Jews – get yourself to the Jewish State (Israel). Not to mention the close to one million Israelis who emigrated to the United States from Israel, they are the “insolent ones” who still call themselves “Israelis” or “American Israelis” – come on, go home, to your country Israel.

This will not happen in America, for two reasons. The first reason is that American democracy is much more stable and stronger than the challenged democracy of Israel. The United States constitution preserves human rights and protects its citizens, all of them. Without differences of sex, race, religion and nationality (just like is written in our declaration of independence).

And the second reason is that America likes having its Jews and Israelis who have made their home there. It is good for the American economy; it is good for its culture and it is good for its community.

In the same way that the diverse population was understood in the United States, if we in Israel provide the right opportunity, we will recognize Arab society in depth and we will support it wherever needed, and we will understand that Arab society is also good for Israel. They are already our doctors, our pharmacists, they are half of the Israeli national soccer team, they enrich our culture, our music, the food that we eat. They build our homes and pave our roads – they are almost everywhere in the Israeli economy. And so the idea of a collective transfer of Arabs in Israel is not only against Jewish moral and values, It also hurts us the Jewish society in Israel losing our fellow partners in our shared country.