Trump's peace plan isn't a deal. It's an endorsement of reality.

Why Trump's 'deal of the century' changes almost nothing

President Trump.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Win McNamee/Getty Images, asya_mix/iStock)

For years, President Trump has been claiming he and his son-in-law would broker "the deal of the century" to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Now that we've finally seen it, it's clear that what he meant was: the deal of the century for Israel.

The plan effectively endorses Israel's maximalist negotiating position: not only control but annexation of the Jordan Valley, integration of all the settlement blocs of the West Bank, a united Jerusalem, and a commitment that any Palestinian state would be contingent on the disarmament of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and the institution of full liberal democracy. Moreover, any Palestinian state that did emerge would be demilitarized and dependent on Israel for both security and economic survival. Representatives of the Palestinian Authority weren't invited to the unveiling, which is unsurprising because they weren't even consulted on the plan.

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Noah Millman

Noah Millman is a screenwriter and filmmaker, a political columnist and a critic. From 2012 through 2017 he was a senior editor and featured blogger at The American Conservative. His work has also appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Politico, USA Today, The New Republic, The Weekly Standard, Foreign Policy, Modern Age, First Things, and the Jewish Review of Books, among other publications. Noah lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.