Disaster to the Arab world... and the United States

Every time it seems like Donald Trump can't outdo himself, he actually does. Now he has announced that his administration will recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, overturning an American policy of nearly seventy years. This step will have numerous negative branches, a large number totally unpredictable.

Jerusalem is one of the most important issues in terms of final status that has been consistently avoided by Israeli-Palestinian negotiations because of its extreme sensitivity. Trump has stepped forward toward such confusion as a bull in a porcelain store, eliminating more complex and emotional issues related to Palestine.

Jerusalem is certainly the most important aspect of the whole question of Palestine. It was the identity center of Muslim and Christian Palestinians as long as we had to go back to the foundations of both religions, and it has become even more central as the conflict for Palestine became harsh.

Rivalry for the holy city was exacerbated by the fact that the same places ʹHaram al-Sharif for Muslims, the Temple Mountain for Jews, are sacred to both religions. The cause of the explosive nature, this is an issue that no Palestinian politician, and few Arab leaders, would dare get involved.

For someone like me whose family has lived in Jerusalem for hundreds of years, Trump's announcement does not mean just that the U.S. has adopted the position of Israel, which belongs only to them. He has also retroactively legitimized Israel's military invasion and occupation of eastern Arab Jerusalem during the 1967 war, and the enforcement of discrimination laws for hundreds of Palestinians living there. The damage he has done will be permanent: The U.S. cannot undo recognition anymore.

This act completely discredits the United States from its long role as a mediator, a position Washington has monopolized for himself.

Trump's action marks contempt for the opinion of the entire Arab world. Whatever Arab dictators and absolute monarchs may say they support, the Arab people unanimously support Palestine's position on Jerusalem. Their inevitable responses to this movement will affect US interests throughout the region. As noted by Defence Secretary James Mattis in 2013: “I paid an award for military security daily as commander, because Americans are convicted of supporting Israel. ”

The latest diplomatic Fiasco is another example of neglect that the Trump administration is making to the views of the rest of the world. No other country has known Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. There is a global consensus that says that until the agreement between Palestinians and Israelis is reached, it is illegal to prejudge or predetermine the outcome of negotiations. The United States formally guaranteed Palestinians this when they were invited to a peace conference in Madrid in 1991.

Of course, there is a long prejudice in favor of Israel. No one was to expect correctness in this matter from them or from their boss.

It is now hard to see whether an agreement between Palestinians and Israelis is possible. Trump's experience is a self - inflicted wound that will be felt long in diplomacy's anals. This will further reduce the role of the United States, complicated relations with allies, Muslims and Arabs, and people who have common-sensey worldwide.

Trump, who was warned of this step by Arabs, Middle Eastern people, and European leaders, has already made the conflict for Palestine much more difficult, even if he has enjoyed his friends, dangerous and extremist in Israel. Far from being “the “liner, as he boasted, with an idiotic move, Trump may have made the “debaklin of the century”. This is a sad day for international law, for Palestine, and for everyone concerned about peace in the Middle East.

Subtitles by: Periscope