Part of this analysis appeared in the January 29 edition of CNN's Meanwhile in America, the daily email about US politics for global readers. Sign up here to receive it every weekday morning.

Jerusalem (CNN) Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in no doubt. January 28, 2020, would be as historic an occasion as May 14, 1948, the day Israel declared independence and was recognized as a state by then-US President Harry Truman.

President Trump's new plan for the Middle East , unveiled on Tuesday, gives Israel the green light to annex all settlements in the West Bank, along with the Jordan Valley. These moves are conditional on nothing; they are happening. Israel's tourism minister has said that a vote on annexation will take place "within a matter of days."

And whatever political or personal motivations might have driven Trump and Netanyahu to embrace this plan at this particular time, the occasion is significant.

Trump tweeted a map of his vision of what the future on the ground looks like in terms of territory, overturning years of international consensus on what a future Palestinian state might look like.

Trump's plan would shrink the amount of territory in the West Bank left for a future Palestinian state by recognizing Israel sovereignty over the settlements within it, as well as the Jordan Valley -- the eastern-most part of the West Bank. Apart from a short border with Egypt, the future Palestinian state would be completely encircled by Israel.

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