Trump’s Israel Peace Deal Is Better Than Nothing

The ‘Deal of the Century’ unveiled today in Washington is not a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. It is a declaration by the United States that the Six Day War is over, and Israel has won.

The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank furiously rejects this verdict. It argues that most of the world opposes terms that recognize Israeli sovereignty over all West Bank settlements, the Jordan Valley and the important parts of East Jerusalem. This is true. But it isn’t going to do the Palestinians much good. Foreign friends will sympathize. Some may threaten sanctions. But the “international community” and the all-but-defunct Arab League are powerless to change the American-Israel understanding. And, surprisingly, some of the Sunni Arab states actually seem to be willing to at least consider it. At least three Arab ambassadors broke with a decades-long boycott and attended the ceremony.