‘Deal of the century’: Beirut report details secret Trump peace plan

The so-called “Deal of the Century” would include a broad regional agreement with a number of Arab states taking an active role, Al-Akhbar reported on April 6, citing Jordanian and Egyptian sources.

Under the deal, Jordan would be asked to permanently settle one million Palestinian Arabs currently listed as refugees, the report said. Jordan would first naturalize 300,000 Palestinian Arabs, including those already living in Jordan, which the report said number no more than 200,000.

In exchange its cooperation, Jordan would be compensated to the tune of roughly $45 billion dollars in foreign grants and funding for various projects, the report said.

Lebanon will be urged to grant citizenship to all 450,000 Palestinian Arabs currently living in the country. The Lebanese government has restricted Palestinians’ rights since their entry in 1948.

Egypt would also play a major role in the peace deal, the report said, citing Egyptian sources who said American officials have floated the idea of opening up large swathes of the Sinai Peninsula near the Gaza Strip for the establishment of industrial zones for Gaza’s population.

While the territories in question would not be annexed to Gaza under President Donald Trump’s plan, according to the report, Egypt would grant Gazan workers expanded access to portions of the northeastern Sinai.

In exchange – and as part of the effort to develop the industrial zones – Egypt would receive some $65 billion in foreign grants and payments for projects in northern Sinai.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham has called on the United States to enter into a mutual defense agreement with Israel to telegraph to the world that “an attack against Israel would be considered an attack against the United States”, The Associated Press reported.

The South Carolina Republican made the comments at the annual meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas on April 6.

America should tell Israel’s enemies that if they seek “to destroy the one and only Jewish state, you have to come through us to get them,” said Graham.

Trump spoke earlier at the same gathering, where he discussed the upcoming Israeli elections.

“Unlike other presidents, I keep my promises,” Trump emphasized, adding that moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem was a “historic action that had been decades in waiting” and that the U.S.-Israel relationship has never been better.

“I stood with your prime minister at the White House to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” continued Trump.

“Some of you won’t like this, maybe, but I would love to see peace in the Middle East,” Trump said, adding that if White House adviser Jared Kushner and U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt can’t broker peace in the Middle East, “nobody can.”