Analysis 60 dead and 2,200 wounded in Gaza add up to zero chance of success for Trump’s Mideast peace plan

‘They’ve driven the Palestinians away from the table and given them the excuse not to come back’

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An elderly Palestinian man falls on the ground after being shot by Israeli troops during a deadly protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel on Monday. Photo: AP

Published: 8:02am, 15 May 2018Updated: 10:08pm, 15 May 2018

The move of the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, coupled with the killings of dozens of Palestinian protesters on Monday, makes the odds of a US-brokered peace even more remote, analysts said.

“Somewhere between zero and none,” Martin Indyk, a former US special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in the Obama administration, said of the chances President Donald Trump might bring the two sides together and broker what he has called the “ultimate deal.”

Israeli troops fatally shot dozens of Palestinian demonstrators on the Gaza border on Monday as the US Embassy formally moved to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

Palestinians protesters run for cover from Israeli tear-gas during clashes near the border with Israel in the east of Gaza Strip on Monday, Photo: EPA5 May 1948. Protesters call for the right of Palestinians to return to their homeland. EPA-EFE/MOHAMMED SABER

US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, attends the opening ceremony of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday. Photo: AP

The embassy move fulfilled a Trump campaign promise but infuriated Palestinians and drew criticism that Washington had undercut its own peace efforts.

Palestinian Health Ministry officials said 60 protesters were killed and 2,200 injured by live gunfire, tear gas or other means. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was acting in self-defence against the coastal enclave’s ruling Hamas group.

It’s not just that [moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem] provoked violence or that it’s made the United States look like the biased broker … all this loose talk about how it’s going to advance peace is ludicrous

Martin Indyk, a former US special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}‘They’ve driven the Palestinians away from the table and given them the excuse not to come back’

‘They’ve driven the Palestinians away from the table and given them the excuse not to come back’