Greeting 68-year-old Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House today, 71-year-old President Donald Trump hailed a new era of close ties with Israel. Under his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, U.S.-Israeli relations sunk to new lows, with both leaders barely able to shake hands. Obama couldn’t square Israel’s special relationship with the U.S., especially after Sept. 11. Obama’s predecessor, former President George W. Bush, understood the seamless ties with Israel in the war on terror. Once Trump took office Jan. 20, 2017, Netanyahu breathed a sight of relief knowing Trump had Israel’s back. When Trump announced Dec. 6, 2017 he was moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, it caused an international uproar, prompting Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO] leader 82-year-old Mahmoud Abbas Dec. 24, 2017 to end ties with the U.S. as peace broker.
Abbas and his Hamas partner in the Gaza Strip, called on Palestinians to resist Trump’s move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Since its independence May 14, 1948, Israel has always recognized Jerusalem as its “eternal capital,” hosting the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem since its U.N. recognition May 11, 1949. Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was designed to motivate Palestinians to come to the peace table to negotiate a two-state solution, including preserving East Jerusalem as its capital. Trump’s decision to relocate the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem in no way prejudices Palestinian rights in any future negotiation. But Abbas decided Dec. 24, 2017 to reject the U.S. as a neutral peace broker, looking to the U.N. to solve its statehood problem. Abbas knows that no one at the U.N. can impose a two-state solution on both parties.
No Arabs living in the Ottoman controlled Holy Land, including Jerusalem, or the British mandate of Palestine from 1922 up until Israel’s founding in 1948, referred to themselves as Palestinians. Only after Yasser Arafat formed the PLO May 28, 1964, did the world refer to Arabs living in the Holy Land as Palestinians. Arafat worked tirelessly to cobble together an Arab coalition to destroy Israel, culminating in the 1967 Six Day War. When five Arab states, led by Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, plus the PLO , attacked Israel, they thought they’d reclaim lost Arab land, once under Ottoman and British rule. Once the war ended June 10, 1967, Israel had defeated all Arab armies, annexing Egypt’s Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula, Jordan’s West Bank and East Jerusalem and Syria’s Golan Heights. Had the war never taken place, Israel would have never seized land Palestinians claim as “occupied territories.”
Since the 1967 War, defeated Arab states and PLO have tried to cajole Israel into giving back the spoils of the Six Day War in exchange for peace. While Egypt negotiated the return of the Sinai Peninsula in 1979 under former President Jimmy Carter’s Camp David Accords, there was little peace. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon returned the Gaza Strip in 2005, with no peace coming. Now Abbas wants Israel to return to the pre-1967 War borders in exchange for a peace treaty. Yet with growing terrorism plaguing the Middle East, Israel’s in no position to return to the pre-1967 borders, especially not in Golan Heights. Trump and Netanyahu discussed today Iran’s growing influence in the region, with its Revolutionary Guards and surrogate Lebanon-based Hezbollah seeking permanent bases in Syria. Turmp understands Israel’s security concerns in any future peace talks.
Abbas tried to make an end run to the U.N. to form a future Palestinian state without direct talks with Israel. Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy to Israel tells Abbas to either get back to the peace table or live with the current circumstances leaving Israel in control of East and West Jerusalem and controlling the West Bank. Abbas has no claim to Israel or its spoils of the Six Day War, other than its relentless anti-Israel PR campaign at the U.N., leading to the 120 to zero vote Dec. 21, 2017 condemning the U.S. for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. No sovereign state can tell the U.S. where to put its embassy, including Abbas or U.N. General Assembly. If Palestinians wish to have East Jerusalem as a capital for a future state, they must go the peace table and negotiate for it. Rioting, threatening terrorism and war won’t change U.S. foreign policy.
Instead of the media focusing of Trump and Netanyahu’s scandals, they should figure out a way for the Mideast to get back to the peace process. Whether or not Trump’s alleged Russian collusion or Netanyahu’s alleged corruption amount to a hill of beans is anyone’s guess. Both leaders are firmly in charge ready to deal substantive issues of Mideast peace. Trump’s desire to celebrate Israel’s 70-year declaration of independence May 14 is bound to antagonize Palestinians. “If I can, I will,” Trump told Netanyahu regarding celebrating Israel’s Independence Day. “Israel is very special to me, special country, special people,” recognizing the strong role American Jews play in guaranteeing Israeli security. Whether admitted to or not, Abbas knows Israel’s special role to the U.S. It didn’t hamper brokering Mideast peace before and it’s no obstacle to a fair peace deal today.
