Earlier today, the president and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu unveiled the administration’s so-called “Vision for Peace,” which is nothing more than a blueprint for more annexation, continued occupation, and apartheid:

The package is expected to propose a redrawn border between Israel and the West Bank that would formalize Israeli control over large Jewish settlements. It would give U.S. blessing to some forms of Israeli security control over the territory Israel seized in 1967 and has occupied since, according to two people familiar with the plan who spoke on the condition of anonymity before the plan’s release.

The proposed plan is a one-sided giveaway to Israel that offers Palestinians an empty shell of a “state” and endorses the annexation of illegal settlements along with the entire Jordan River valley. It goes without saying that Palestinians and their leaders will reject this and will view it as the insult that it is. No Palestinians were involved in the “process” that created this plan, and it is obvious that their interests and rights are of no importance to the plan’s authors. As Khaled Elgindy pointed out last night, this is a U.S.-Israeli plan that is being dictated to Palestinians with no respect for their aspirations and agency:

At the same time, the notion that an American president, in consultation with two Israeli leaders, could decide on the future of Palestinians without any Palestinian involvement seems to epitomize Trump’s overall approach to the conflict, which not only has ruled out the possibility of Palestinian self-determination but seems to hold the very notion of Palestinian agency in contempt.

It is easy to understand why Palestinians would reject it when you look at the map of what they propose:

This is the official White House plan for Palestine — a swiss-cheese like PA with threadbare links to other zones. There is no way this is accepted by the Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/3Dkw862cY5

— Ryan Bohl (@Ryan_Bohl) January 28, 2020

The Trump PLAN/MAP is the design for a PALESTINIAN PRISON. No group of people would ever accept to live unfree under the complete domination of another. Americans would never accept it. The Jewish people will never accept it. And the Palestinian people will never accept it. /1 https://t.co/oyo574x4T8

— Hady Amr (@HadyAmr) January 28, 2020

This is a scheme cooked up by pro-settler ideologues in the administration, and it has nothing to do with resolving conflict and everything to do with making Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territory permanent.

As far as one can tell—given the weaselly language at the press conference and the absence of the "80-page document"—this plan is not one that the Palestinians can or will accept. Nor is it a starting point for negotiations. It's a sop to the right in both Israel and America.

— Gregg Carlstrom (@glcarlstrom) January 28, 2020

It is an annexation plan, not a peace plan. https://t.co/cuByScBWhe

— Frederick Deknatel (@freddydeknatel) January 28, 2020

If a state is a 'territory that is sovereign & politically independent of other communities,” then the Palestinians are not getting a ‘state’ in Trump’s deal. But as there’s no agreed definition of a state, once again the interpretation of language is king in this conflict pic.twitter.com/BfilMlhqDH

— Paul Danahar (@pdanahar) January 28, 2020

“Israel will apply its laws to the Jordan Valley and to the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria."

That's the definition of annexation. This is an annexation plan, not a plan for peace.

— J Street (@jstreetdotorg) January 28, 2020

Palestinian official gives me his two-word reaction to the Trump plan: "Apartheid 2.0"

— Joe (@joedyke) January 28, 2020

No one expected that the Trump administration would produce anything resembling a serious proposal to serve as the basis of real negotiations, but what they have produced is still remarkably awful. The next administration should repudiate this plan and the ugly vision of annexation and apartheid that it represents. If Israel proceeds with further illegal annexations, the next administration should cut off all military aid. The U.S. should no longer be enabling an illegal occupation, and our government should end its support for the ongoing dispossession and abuse of millions of people.