Palestinians officials, still reeling from 71-year-old Donald Trump’s Dec. 6, 2017 decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, are looking for ways to nullify the 1993 Oslo Accords recognizing Israel’s right to exist. But Israel has not changed anything since Trump’s decision, despite Palestinians rioting in Gaza and the West Bank, stepping up attacks on Israeli civilians. No one in the Palestinians community can explain the collective punishment against Israel, when it was Trump’s unilateral decision, rejected by the U.N. Dec. 23, 2017 in overwhelming fashion. In rejecting Trump’s unilateral action, the U.N. did not reject the peace process, reaffirming that both Israel and Palestinians must negotiate the role of Jerusalem or any other details in a Palestinian state. If the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO] rejects Israel’s right to exist, it doesn’t change much of anything.
Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital states the obvious, since the Israeli Knesset or parliament has met in Jerusalem since 1949, shortly after formal U.N. recognition May 11, 1949. What bothers Palestinians, and always has, is that Israel was recognized by the U.N., with all the rights, privileges and legal responsibilities. Whatever Trump did Dec. 6, 2017, it was designed to get Palestinians back to the peace table. Instead, it fully exposed that Palestinians really want to nullify the U.N.’s May 11, 1949 decision to recognize Israel as a member state. Palestinians and their Arab allies have fought at least three major wars since Israel declared its independence May 14, 1948. Instead of working with Trump to hammer out a deal that works for both parties, 82-year-old PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas severed ties with the Trump administration.
When Vice President Mike Pence visits the Holy Land in two weeks, he’s not welcome in Ramallah, the PLO’s home base, all because Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Palestinians have little bargaining power, largely because of their own doing. Trump’s Dec. 6, 2017 decision never said the White House would not put all demands on the table, including East Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital, in any peace negotiation. Palestinians know that no country other than the U.S. can broker a Mideast peace because of its unique relationship with Israel. Palestinians say they want Israel to return to the pre-1967 Six Day War borders, something impossible because of today’s national security issues. Threatening to undo the 1993 Oslo accords does nothing for Palestinians or Israel because winning territory by armed conflict, with or without allies, gets Palestinians nothing.
Why the Palestinians blame Israel for Trump’s decision is anyone’s guess. It can only be surmised that Palestinians actually don’t want peace with Israel. Palestinians know that before the 1948 War of Independence and the 1967 and 1973 wars, they held not one inch of sovereign territory—they held land leased originally by the Ottoman Empire prior to 1922, then the British Mandate of Palestine, then Egypt, Jordan and Syria. What Palestinians call “occupied territories,” including formerly Egypt’s Gaza Strip, Jordan’s East Jerusalem and Syria’s Golan Heights, are actually spoils of the 1967 War. Palestinians, led by PLO founder Yasser Arafat, rolled the dice in 1967 going to war against Israel with Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. When the dust settled six days later, Egypt has lost the Gaza Stirp and Sinai Peninsula, Jordan lost West Bank and East Jerusalem and Syria lost the Golan Heights.
Expecting Israel, whether recognized or not by the U.N., to hand over all spoils of the Six Day War for an independent state is preposterous. “It is not possible for the Palestinian side to remain the only one committed to the agreements signed while the other side [Israel] is not committed to them and has violated them for years,” said senior PLO official Ahmed Majdalani. Majdalani forgets that Palestinians, with their Arab partners, lost the 1967 War. Palestinian groups, like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, never accepted the 1979 Camp David or 1993 Oslo Accords, remain committed to Israel’s destruction, not a two-state solution. Hamas has been telling Gaza residents, since taking control June 14, 2007, that their tunnels and rocket will one day conquer Israel. Majdalani talks about Israel’s commitments but doesn’t admit the bulk of the PLO wants to destroy Israel.
Israel has done nothing differently since Trump announced Dec. 6, 2017 that he recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. What’s been exposed for all to see is that PLO leadership actually doesn’t accept Israel’s right to exist, as signed in the 1993 Oslo Accords. Rejecting the U.S. role to broker future peace negotiations, Palestinians have made a two-state solution all but impossible. With Gaza in shambles and the West Bank running out of cash, Palestinians are in no position to threaten war or make unrealistic demands, especially about territory for an independent state. Trump did nothing other than try to get Palestinians to take the peace process seriously—or not. All the grandstanding at the U.N., the Arab League, Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] or any other Arab group won’t force Israel to meet Palestinian demands without U.S.-brokered peace talks.
