With less than a week to go before Israel's next parliamentary elections, the fallout from the Trump administration's Middle East plan continues. The latest polls show that almost 95% of Palestinians reject the plan, while nearly 50% of Israelis believe it amounts to US intervention in their elections to help Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party win over the opposition on March 2nd.

Since the plan was unveiled at The White House weeks ago, it has been been criticized by Pope Francis for its ""inequitable solutions"" which he warned could be a prelude to new crises. Here in the US, Democratic frontrunner Bernie Sanders has announced his decision to boycott AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby's annual meeting in Washington next week, saying he is ""concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights"".

So, is Trump's Middle East plan a serious effort at peace-making between Israelis and Palestinians? Or a crude attempt at bolstering his and Netanyahu's re-election campaigns?