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Photo by REUTERS/Gary Hershorn/Files/File Photo

In classic Trump fashion, he has long been hyping his plan as the “deal of the century.” But a deal necessarily involves both parties, which this one seems to have lacked from the get-go.

To be fair, the Palestinians have some legitimate gripes with the proposal. While Trump’s plan paves the way for a two-state solution, the Palestinian state would be limited, at least for a time, with Israel maintaining security control over the territories. It would cement the status of Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel, while creating a Palestinian capital in Abu Dis, on the outskirts of the city. It would also give Israel sovereignty over its West Bank settlements, which, even without the Palestinians on board, Netanyahu and his political rival, Blue and White Leader Benny Gantz, have taken it as a green-light to annex the settlements and the Jordan Valley.

Yet it also offers many benefits to the Palestinian people. It would allow them to move freely between the West Bank and Gaza, which is very hard, if not impossible, to do today. It would have doubled the amount of territory currently under Palestinian control. And it would give them the chance to form an autonomous state.

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

But let’s be clear: the Palestinians were never going to accept this deal, no matter how sweet it was. What it really comes down to is that the Palestinians are unwilling to accept the idea of a Jewish state in the region — and always have been.

This dates all the way back to 1947, when the UN-approved partition plan would have created separate Jewish and Arab states with Jerusalem as a protected international city. The Jews accepted the plan; the Arabs violently rejected it, leading to Israel’s War of Independence. Israel was again attacked by its neighbours in 1967, which resulted in it capturing the territories that are still being contested today.