A former soldier speaks out about the two separate legal systems for Israelis and Palestinians. The Trump plan wants to make this reality permanent.
By Yehuda Shaul | +972 Magazine | Feb 3, 2020
And although I do not know what it is like to live under occupation, I do know what it is like to carry out that occupation, having served as an IDF soldier in Palestinian communities that Israel has subjected to military rule for over half a century.
In an interview on CNN last week, Jared Kushner, one of the architects of President Donald Trump’s newly-released “Deal of the Century,” stated: “The reality is that Israel’s there [in the West Bank], and they’re not leaving… I’m not looking at the world as it existed in 1967. I’m looking at the world as it exists in 2020.”
These remarks echoed Kushner’s repeated calls for Palestinians to abandon their history and accept today’s facts on the ground. Only this, he says, would make it possible for Palestinians to move forward to a prosperous future.
I would urge Kushner to follow his own guidance and take a closer look at the “reality” he claims to see.
In the 181 pages that comprise Trump’s plan, no room was made, not even once, for the word that describes the true nature of the situation the plan is supposed to address: “occupation.” This term, though dry and legal at its core, encapsulates the past 52 years for every Palestinian whose futures Kushner and Trump are now trying to dictate.
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