Though he already unveiled glimpses of his political radicalism during his election campaign US president Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as a capital for the Israeli occupation state and his postponed embassy relocation decision have just vindicated further that his administration adopts more radical approach towards the Palestinian-Israeli conflict than any of its forerunners which were also known for their favoritism to Israel but committed themselves to a longstanding bedrock of Middle East policy.
It was almost certain that Trump would take such decision over Jerusalem sooner or later before ending his term of office because he and his White House band of aides are evidently Zionists and vociferous supporters for the Zionist entity (Israel) and of course the Palestinians’ rights have no shred of place on their agendas.
During his campaign Trump pledged to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Occupied Jerusalem to please the Zionist enterprise or lobby in the US but he seemingly made it a central tenet of his platform and not just an echo of an old political promise that had been made by his predecessors to woo Jewish voters and tycoons during their election battles.
In addition Trump needs to look different from ex-presidents and prove wrong all the US politics used in the past to handle Middle East issues especially the Palestinian-Israeli conflict just in order to satisfy his vanity and narcissism he is known for.
After he entered the White House it was not long before Trump decided to trouble the world once again with his threatening remarks about moving the US embassy to Occupied Jerusalem but later he tried to hedge following worldwide criticism of such move by announcing that he would shelve his embassy relocation decision for six months and recognize the holy city as Israel’s capital as if such recognition is less injurious to regional stability and peace than his campaign pledge to move the embassy.
Despite overwhelming global opposition to any unilateral step over the final disposition of Jerusalem Trump turned a deaf ear to the world and flagrantly declared on December 6 2017 that he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel and its Jewish people and that he fulfilled a major campaign promise of his and many previous presidential candidates.
This is a different US president definitely with no common sense and whose strong motive that drives him to make such fateful decision—and the worst is yet to come—is his wanton innate hatred towards Islam and the Muslim nation which he has flatly declared on several occasions especially during his campaign and his very first months in the Oval office. This is some of the reality about this man which the Palestinians along with leaders of Arab and Muslim countries especially of Turkey and Jordan have to face and confront during the remaining three years of his tenure unless he becomes another four-year nightmare for the world in 2020.
If the daily reactions of Arab and Muslim leaders remained confined to repeating statements of condemnation warning of more regional chaos or voicing concern over “the peace process” which is practically nonexistent such attitude would give a renewed impression that they would eventually acclimate themselves to the new situation or at least try to blunt their shock and placate their peoples with some diplomatic or political stunts every once in a while; in other words they may live with this new fait accompli as they have done before and history does not lie.
Most likely Trump’s next move would be to wait for all angry reactions towards his Israeli capital decision to subside until the six-month waiver he signed to delay the embassy relocation expires again then he would play this as a trump card and renew his threat about moving the embassy to pressure the Palestinians and other regional actors to accept his plan to resume the “peace process” which has gone nowhere and will continue to go nowhere.
The peace process is the same old charade the successive US administrations have played to gain time for Israel to expand its control further over Palestine but the difference between Trump and his predecessors is that the latter seeks to be the last player in this game.
Overall the Trump administration does not adhere to the traditional US position on the two-state solution which includes Israel’s withdrawal to the 1967 border and the establishment of a Palestinian state with a capital in east Jerusalem; besides it does not consider Israel’s settlement activities illegal and espouses all lies told by Israel about the origin of the conflict with the Arabs.
So what should the Palestinians do after the current US administration has unequivocally confirmed that it can never be an objective peace broker and after their hope for having east Jerusalem as the capital of their independent state has faded away?
The optimal response from the Palestinians to any US step targeting or undermining their just national cause is to seriously work on cementing their unity through forming a new government and restructuring their national institutions based on full political partnership.
The Palestinians also must work together with their legitimate armed resistance on shifting the balance of power on the ground in their favor to make the occupation of their land so costly for Israel and its allies.
– Raouf M. bin-Hashim is a PIC staff writer.
