Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Pete Buttigieg, who are seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in the election later this year, on Tuesday rejected US President Donald Trump’s proposed peace plan for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Sanders claimed in a post on Twitter that the “Deal of the Century” will not bring peace and would instead perpetuate the conflict.
“The United States can bring unequaled leadership to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but we must use that leadership to promote a just and durable agreement. Any acceptable peace deal must be consistent with international law and multiple UN resolutions,” he wrote.
“It must end the Israeli occupation and enable Palestinian self-determination in an independent state of their own alongside a secure Israel. Trump's so-called 'peace deal' doesn't come close, and will only perpetuate the conflict. It is unacceptable,” added Sanders.
Warren, meanwhile, described the Trump plan as a “sham”.
“Trump's ‘peace plan’ is a rubber stamp for annexation and offers no chance for a real Palestinian state,” she tweeted.
“Releasing a plan without negotiating with Palestinians isn't diplomacy, it's a sham. I will oppose unilateral annexation in any form—and reverse any policy that supports it,” added Warren.
Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, tweeted, “This president's Mideast ‘Deal of the Century,’ like so much else he’s done in foreign policy, makes complex situations worse.”
“Peace requires both parties at the table. Not a political green light to the leader of one for unilateral annexation,” he added.
Sanders has criticized Trump’s policy vis-à-vis Israel and the PA and has argued that the US policy must be pro-Palestinian as well as pro-Israel.
Sanders has come under fire for his statements against Israel, most recently when he told the J Street conference that the US should redirect its aid to Israel and give it to Gaza instead, while calling the Israeli government “racist”.
Warren, like Sanders, has been critical of the Trump administration’s Middle East policy. In November she criticized the Trump administration’s declaration that that the US no longer considers Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria to be contrary to international law.
“Another blatantly ideological attempt by the Trump administration to distract from its failures in the region. Not only do these settlements violate international law—they make peace harder to achieve. As president, I will reverse this policy and pursue a two state solution,” Warren tweeted at the time.
Shortly after she announced her presidential bid, Warren said that the United States should be pushing Israel and the Palestinian Authority toward a two-state solution.
Sanders, Warren and Buttigieg join their rival in the Democratic primary, former US Vice President Joe Biden, in criticizing Trump’s proposal.
Biden described the plan as a “political stunt” and added, “I've spent a lifetime working to advance the security and survival of a Jewish and democratic Israel. This is not the way.”