Trump's Threats And Painful Defeat Over Jerusalem
15 January 2018By Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi
"Jerusalem is not for sale." This is what the Palestinians said unequivocally
through their President Mahmoud Abbas and other senior Palestinian officials.
This was in response to United States President Donald Trump's threat to cut
off the aid provided by the US to the Palestinian Authority if it does not
return to the negotiating table with the Israeli government.
Trump issued this threat after declaring his recognition of Jerusalem as the
eternal capital of Israel and his decision to transfer the US embassy from Tel
Aviv to Jerusalem. This was in defiance of international laws, as well as
resolutions of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly. These include
resolutions for which the US voted in the past that declare the territories
occupied by Israel after the 1967 war as occupied territories and further
state that it is not permissible to change their features or demographic
structure.
The Palestinians are fully convinced that the United States is biased in favor
of Israel, and, therefore, is not in a position to play any role in the peace
process as it cannot be an honest broker, especially when an extreme
right-wing government is in power in Israel. The United States now has a
president who has lost his credibility to deal with either international
politics or international laws. Trump has entrusted the mission of bringing
together the two parties to his son-in-law, who lacks the knowledge,
experience and logic required to bring the two sides to negotiating table.
President Trump would have succeeded in tackling this core issue, in which his
predecessors have failed, if he had taken up the file of the Palestinian cause
himself and handled it in a judicious and just manner. There have been great
efforts, sacrifices and concessions made by the Palestinians to resolve the
problem, but all of these have been futile due to Israeli intransigence.
The Palestinians and Israel signed the Oslo Accords under the mediation of the
United States. The Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin shook hands in the White House and Arafat called this historic
handshake the peace of the brave. However, Rabin was later assassinated by a
Jewish extremist simply because he had signed the peace agreement with the
Palestinians.
If Trump accomplishes the mission that Rabin initiated by convincing the
Israelis that peace is in their long-term interest, he will find a place in
the annals of history.
Trump has made promises to solve the Palestinian issue by calling it the "deal
of the century". It would be that in all senses of the word if he was fair and
just in demanding that Israel implement the agreements reached between the two
parties as well as in accordance with the international laws and resolutions
adopted by the UN Security Council and General Assembly and endorsed by the
United States. All these resolutions have called for the adoption of the
two-state solution as a final solution to the problem so that a Palestinian
state would exist next to the state of Israel along 1967 borders. There has
also been an Arab Initiative that was consistent with the international
resolutions mentioned above and approved by all the Arab countries, including
the Palestinian Authority.
On one hand, Trump speaks about his resolve to solve the Palestinian issue and
affirms his ability to score a victory in a mission in which former American
presidents failed. But at the same time, he declares his recognition of
Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as if Jerusalem were his own property,
forgetting or pretending to forget the undeniable fact that Jerusalem is a red
line not only for the Palestinians, but also for all Arabs and Muslims. It
seems that he is not aware of the importance attached to Jerusalem by
Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims and even the Christian population of Palestine.
It is totally unacceptable for them to have Jerusalem as the capital of Israel
based on myths and lies fabricated by Israel.
There is not a single Palestinian or Arab national or Muslim who accepts
Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as declared by Trump. Indeed, the entire
world has rejected it outright. The best proof of this is the terrible defeat
suffered by Trump and his representative to the UN in the Security Council and
the General Assembly.
Before the vote in the General Assembly, Trump threatened to cut off foreign
aid to those countries that voted against the United States. However, the vast
majority of nations saw the threat as pertaining to their sovereignty, which
is not at all negotiable. Now, he has started issuing another threat to cut
off aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees
in the Near East (UNRWA) if it does not accept his ill-fated decision, whereby
he gives something that is not owned by him to someone else who is not at all
entitled to have it.
— Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi is a former Saudi diplomat who specializes in Southeast
Asian affairs. He can be reached at algham@hotmail.com
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