AIPAC, J Street offer predictably contrasting views on Trump peace plan

Two US Jewish groups, AIPAC and J Street, have issued contrasting responses to the new US peace proposal.

The pro-Israel lobby hails Trump’s efforts “to set forth ideas to resolve the conflict” and calls the plan a solid basis for negotiations. It urges the Palestinians to “forego the path of violence, boycotts and the criminalization of differences at international forums and return to peace talks with Israel.”

Liberal advocacy group J Street, meanwhile, denounces the plan as having “zero chance of serving as the basis for renewed diplomacy” and says it is “the logical culmination of repeated bad-faith steps this administration has taken to validate the agenda of the Israeli right.”

“By endorsing Israeli sovereignty over vast portions of the occupied West Bank, the president and his team appear to be empowering Israeli leaders to carry out unilateral annexations that would flagrantly violate international law, trample on the rights of Palestinians and grossly endanger Israel’s future as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people.”