Washington's Middle East deal too biased: China Daily editorial

Judging from the massive anti-American protests that have swept across the Middle East in the past few days, it seems the "deal of the century" the United States is proposing for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians is only aggravating the tensions in this highly combustible region.

Since the US administration revealed the deal on Tuesday, Palestinians have been rallying to protest against it, and these have been quickly echoed by protests in other countries, including Iran, Iraq, Jordan and Yemen.

In contrast to the US president's pledges that the deal is a "realistic" two-state solution and a "win-win opportunity" for both sides, Palestinians believe the deal serves only Israel's interests and destroys their hopes of having an independent Palestinian state on all the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, with East Jerusalem as the capital.

Indeed, given the US administration's pro-Israeli policies in the past three years, including recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the US embassy there, it is hard to imagine the US coming up with an impartial deal that addresses the concerns of not just the Israelis but also the Palestinians.

For any resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian issue to be lasting, it will have to be fair. The US, which is a close ally of Israel, lacks the necessary impartiality and the new deal is filled with favoritism to Israeli.

From the status of Jerusalem to Jewish settlements and the principle of land for peace, the US deal shows exceptional bias toward Israel and fails to give due consideration to Palestinians' appeals.

Among these issues, it is most alarming that the US proposal on the status of Jerusalem runs counter to previous United Nations resolutions on the Palestinian issue, which recognize the borders before the 1967 Middle East war as the basis for a two-state solution.

By recognizing the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 and proposing Abu Dis, an Arab town near east of Jerusalem's walled Old City, as the capital of a future Palestinian state, the deal proposed by the US changes the substance of the internationally recognized two-state solution.

The US favoritism is also shown in the way the deal was made public. That the deal has indisputably been designed under the heavy influence of pro-Jewish forces at home, was revealed by it being released in the presence of US and Israeli leaders without any participation from the Palestinian side.

No wonder the US deal has received the cold shoulder from the international community as it only serves the US purpose of bolstering its ally and so strengthening its own influence in the region.