Skip to content
  • Image
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Podcasts
  • Email
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • News
  • Features
  • Comment
  • Store
The Arab Daily News

The Arab Daily News

Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem

  • About
    • About
    • Our Writers
    • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
    • Book Store
    • Contact
    • Submit Book Reviews, Press Releases
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Corrections Policy
    • Profile on Ray Hanania
    • Submit Press Release
  • Features
    • Food
    • Book Review
    • Humor
    • Movies
    • Travel
  • Arab Stores Targeted
  • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Heritage America resources
    • Directory
      • Groups & Organizations
      • Mosques, Churches
      • Restaurants
      • 2008 & 2014 Arab Media Directories
    • National Arab Heritage Month
    • Video: Chicago Arab History
    • Video: Photo Array of Chicago Arabs
    • Overview of Arabs in America
    • Hanania standup comedy
    • Arabs on the Titanic
    • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
    • Arab News Ray Hanania Radio
    • Ray Hanania on Politics Podcast
    • Podcast Info
    • Hanania Podcast intro
    • Live Arab Radio
  • Your Views
  • Hanania on Tiktok
  • Toggle search form
  • Arab Democratic Club Feb 12, 2023 Forum & Brunch flier
    Arab Democrats host forum for Chicago and suburban candidates Feb. 12 American Arabs
  • The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced Dr. Manal Fakhoury has been elected to the position of Chair of the National Board of Directors, and that attorneys Spojmie Nasiri of California and John Floyd of Texas have joined the organization’s National Board.
    CAIR Announces Dr. Manal Fakhoury as New Board Chair, New Board Members Spojmie Nasiri and John Floyd American Arabs
  • AHRC Executive Director Imad Hamad
    AHRC: Honor Dr. King Day with Civility, Unity, and Action American Arabs
  • Citgo Gas Station and Quik Mart at 3759 W. Chicago Ave in Chicago ordered closed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot because a street gang member with an AK-47 killed someone in front of the store. Only Arab and Muslim stores are being closed by the Mayor
    When Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot targeted Arab businesses in 2021 and 2022 Activism
  • Hussam al-Mayman, The Mayman Show, podcast Arab News
    Arab News launches third season of The Mayman Show podcast Arab News
  • State Rep. Cyril Nichols interviewed on live Arab American radio in Detroit with host Ray Hanania Friday Dec. 9, 2022
    Nichols discusses need to improve Arab-Black relations in Chicagoland American Arabs
  • Voting sticker issued to voters in Cook County elections in 2016. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Gov. Pritzker Announces Six Appointments to Boards and Commissions — no Arabs included American Arabs
  • Closure notice posted on the doors and windows of Arab American businesses during Mayor Lori Lightfoot's closure of Arab owned stores in June - Sept. 2021. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Pritzker again ignores needs of Arab businesses in latest appointments Activism
  • Arab American Democratic Club (AADC) official candidate endorsements for the November 8, 2022 General elections.
    Arab American Democratic Club issues endorsements for Nov. 8, 2022 Cook County Illinois elections Activism
  • Arab Democrats urge NO VOTE on Gov. J.B. Pritzker re-election bid Activism
  • Assyrian American GOP issues endorsements in Nov, 8, 2022 elections
    Assyrian American GOP group endorses candidates in Illinois Activism
  • Abdullah Hammoud, elected Mayor of Dearborn Nov. 2, 2021. Photo courtesy of Abdullah Hammoud Facebook Page
    AHRC’s 2022 Spirit of Humanity Gala a Great Success American Arabs
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts Arab World
  • Rep. Cyril Nichols to be feted by supporters at fundraiser Saturday Oct. 22 Activism
  • Stand up For Human Rights website, United Nations
    UN experts condemn Israel’s ‘sadistic’ punitive measures against French-Palestinian rights defender Salah Hammouri Activism

President Trump is the catalyst the Arabs need to force them to act

Posted on December 6, 2017December 6, 2017 By rayhanania No Comments on President Trump is the catalyst the Arabs need to force them to act
SHARE ...
          
 
  

  • Tweet

President Trump is the catalyst the Arabs need to force them to act

In recognizing the Occupied City of Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel, President Trump is tossing the Middle East Game Board in the air. Middle East peace has been in a coma for 22 years since Israeli extremists assassinated Yitzhak Rabin and destroyed hopes for the Two-State Solution. Now, the move on Jerusalem will either wake up the sleeping Arab World to step up to their responsibilities to push Israel, or the region will plunge into fiery hell.

By Ray Hanania

Published in the Arab News, Dec. 6, 2017 — So many people in the Middle East have viewed the potential role Donald Trump would play as President to bring change to the Middle East.

They bought into the biased coverage of the liberal mainstream American news media which focused on his ability to sow seeds of anger and even hatred.

What the media was protecting was a system in which mealy-mouthed politicians have managed to sustain a status quo in which Israel and the Palestinians have been at loggerheads, without any hope for peace. Yet Israel’s government has cleverly and masterfully used that impasse of no-peace with the Palestinians to build alliances with many Arab countries without consequences or accountability.

Israel has been able to use the failure of the peace process as a cover to continue its extremist agenda of expanding illegal settlements and oppressing non-Jews both inside Israel and in the occupied territories.

The Arabs have never recognized this strategy, that the absence of peace has been beneficial to Israel, and that many American politicians in the Democratic Party have helped sustain this no-peace status quo to Israel’s benefit.

Christian and Muslims iconic religious images in Occupied Jerusalem, Palestine. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
Christian and Muslims iconic religious images in Occupied Jerusalem, Palestine. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania

Every American politician who has called for peace has done so with a lack of sincerity. By urging peace without substance or concrete steps forward, they have reinforced Israel’s ability to do whatever it wants in Palestine.

And Israel has in fact done whatever it wants. It has dramatically increased settlements without any major consequence.

Israel has continued official government policy of confiscating more and more Palestinian lands in the West Bank.

Israel has continued to oppress Palestinians, stepping up its headlock hold on the civilians living in the open air “hell” called the Gaza Strip, while slowly chipping away at Palestinian resistance in the West Bank.

Without the chance of achieving peace, Israel has been able to achieve all of its goals and more, expanding Israel without consequence.

But President Donald Trump is changing that. Instead of pandering to Israel with fake words of praise for peace, Trump is creating a unique and new environment that will inevitably force change on the region.

Trump was never going to achieve peace through happiness … he was going to do it by throwing up the Middle East “game board” and disrupting a status quo that has been a disadvantage to the Palestinian people and justice for Palestinians.

Trump has promised to push for peace, but he has steadily taken American foreign policy from a position of supporting Israel to a new advanced position of advocating for Israel’s agenda.

The fuse that Trump will light that will change the region is his decision to move the U.S. Embassy to the sacred city of Jerusalem, which has been under occupation in part since 1948 and fully occupied since 1967. At both times in the history of Palestine Israel has expelled the non-Jewish presence from West Jerusalem between 1948 and 1967, and has been doing the same in East Jerusalem since 1967.

Trump will do what even the most wildly supportive advocates of Israeli colonialism have stopped short of doing. Trump will push the region into a new environment that will change the current status quo in a way Palestinian need most.

Palestinians have been lulled into believing that prior American Administrations were determined to fight for the Two-State Solution, but that option was killed by Israel’s rightwing governments immediately after its architect, Yitzhak Rabin was murdered in 1995.

And despite the failure of peace, Palestinians have continued to cling to hope because they are the victims of oppression. They have been pushed into a corner where their only hope in the past environment was to hope for peace, with small bursts of resistance and violence.

Trump will change that. He is taking the old “game board” of phony Middle East peace and throwing it into the air.

Moving the embassy will trigger a region-wide enmity and acrimony that will become the basis for Israel’s worst nightmare. Moving the U.S. Embassy and recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel will create an explosion that America and Israel have worked hard to avoid.

It’s an act that will bring devastating change, and devastating change is exactly what the “Question of Palestine” really needs badly. The desire to fight for justice has been smothered by false promises of peace.

Yasir Arafat was betrayed after Rabin was murdered. Had Rabin lived, we might have had peace today. But the Israel right made sure that would never happen by assassinating him. It pushed Arafat into a corner where he withered, powerlessly, and vanished. And with him vanished the Palestinian revolution. No one in the Palestinian or Arab World has managed to recreate the passioned revolution to force change for justice that Arafat masterfully built.

Trump is the new “Rabin,” a different kind of Rabin who will open the door to change. And that change will not be in Israel’s interests even though they will finally cross the demarcation line of sensibility and push the region into a new turmoil.

Instead of opposing Trump’s actions, we should encourage him to do what others have deemed “dangerous steps.”

Move the embassy. Recognize Jerusalem. And then sit back and watch the region explode in anger, protest and a rejection of the State of Coma that the fake promise of peace has put the entire region.

Get ready everyone. The region is about the change.

Click here to read President Trump’s statement.

Click here to read reaction from Arab and Jewish groups.

(Ray Hanania is an award-winning Palestinian American syndicated columnist with the Arab News, and a former Chicago City Hall reporter. Email him at rghanania@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @RayHanania)

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
rayhanania
rayhanania
Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster at The Arab Daily News
RAY HANANIA — Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster

Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.

Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).

Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.

Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.

His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.

Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.

Click here to send Ray Hanania email.

Follow RayHanania on Gettr.com, the uncensored Twitter Ray Hanania on Gettr, the new Twitter
rayhanania
Latest posts by rayhanania (see all)
  • Israeli-push behind effort to ban Tiktok in the United States - January 19, 2023
  • Arab Democrats host forum for Chicago and suburban candidates Feb. 12 - January 18, 2023
  • CAIR Announces Dr. Manal Fakhoury as New Board Chair, New Board Members Spojmie Nasiri and John Floyd - January 12, 2023

  • Tweet

SHARE ...
          
 
  
 
          
 
 Tweet 
Arab News, Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Israel, Middle East, Opinion, Palestine & Jordan, Ray Hanania, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism Tags:destruction of peace, Israel, Occupied Jerusalem, Palestine, peace process, President Trump, risk for peace, Two-State Solution, Yasser Arafat, yitzhak rabin

Post navigation

Previous Post: Sudan targets newspapers, journalists with confiscations and draconian legislation
Next Post: President Trump’s Audacity for Action

Related Posts

  • Israeli elections committee bars surveillance cameras at polling stations, preventing intimidation of Arab voters Arab World
  • Pro-Israel students launch hate campaign against Muslims, Arabs American Arabs
  • Kerry warns Israel-Palestine relations “getting worse” American Arabs
  • Khalil Gibran movie opens with not enough publicity American Arabs
  • U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders denounces anti-BDS law that would undermine American freedoms to protect Israel's government Apartheid
    Arab, Jewish groups denounce law to stifle American freedoms American Arabs
  • British police arrest Libyan accused in officers 1984 killing Arab World

More Related Articles

International musician, dancer, and entertainer Shakira cancels her appearance in Tel Aviv, Israel, May 29, 2018. Image courtesy of Jewish Voice for Peace Shakira cancels Israel performance in face of worldwide outcry American Arabs
Media Twists Facts to Make Israel Look Good in Conflict With Palestinians American Arabs
Imam Izzedin Elzir (Imam of Florence), Rabbi Marc Schneier, Dr Al Issa and Rav Lev New York Rabbi and Muslim World League leader share Global Interreligious Award Culture
APN protests detention of New Israel Fund VP Activism
Kayyem, Abraham offer strong voices in national debate American Arabs
Targeted Paris stadium symbolizes pitfalls of war against the Islamic State Arab World

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • Tiktok.com/@RayHanania
    Israeli-push behind effort to ban Tiktok in the United States
    January 19, 2023
  • Ghassan Rubeiz
    To what extent is Hezbollah responsible for the current crisis in Lebanon?
    January 17, 2023
  • Image from Rashid-al-Din Hamadani's "A Compendium of Chronicles. Image courtesy of Wikipedia
    Why allow religious extremists to re-define Islam in the West?
    January 10, 2023
  • CAIR Executive Director and co-founder Nihad Awad
    This Thanksgiving, let’s use our Blessings for good
    November 23, 2022
  • NEWS
  • Arab Democratic Club Feb 12, 2023 Forum & Brunch flier
    Arab Democrats host forum for Chicago and suburban candidates Feb. 12
    January 18, 2023
  • The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced Dr. Manal Fakhoury has been elected to the position of Chair of the National Board of Directors, and that attorneys Spojmie Nasiri of California and John Floyd of Texas have joined the organization’s National Board.
    CAIR Announces Dr. Manal Fakhoury as New Board Chair, New Board Members Spojmie Nasiri and John Floyd
    January 12, 2023
  • AHRC Executive Director Imad Hamad
    AHRC: Honor Dr. King Day with Civility, Unity, and Action
    January 11, 2023
  • Citgo Gas Station and Quik Mart at 3759 W. Chicago Ave in Chicago ordered closed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot because a street gang member with an AK-47 killed someone in front of the store. Only Arab and Muslim stores are being closed by the Mayor
    When Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot targeted Arab businesses in 2021 and 2022
    January 4, 2023
  • NEWSWIRE
  • Arab Democratic Club Feb 12, 2023 Forum & Brunch flier
    Arab Democrats host forum for Chicago and suburban candidates Feb. 12
    January 18, 2023
  • The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced Dr. Manal Fakhoury has been elected to the position of Chair of the National Board of Directors, and that attorneys Spojmie Nasiri of California and John Floyd of Texas have joined the organization’s National Board.
    CAIR Announces Dr. Manal Fakhoury as New Board Chair, New Board Members Spojmie Nasiri and John Floyd
    January 12, 2023
  • AHRC Executive Director Imad Hamad
    AHRC: Honor Dr. King Day with Civility, Unity, and Action
    January 11, 2023
  • Stand up For Human Rights website, United Nations
    UN experts condemn Israel’s ‘sadistic’ punitive measures against French-Palestinian rights defender Salah Hammouri
    October 19, 2022

Creative Commons License
All work on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

  • 08-09-21-Ziyad-Sices-Ad.jpg
  • 08-09-21-Ziyad-Ad-Pantry-essentials.jpg
  • ZiyadBrandLogo-2016BlackRedBackgrnd.jpg
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    October 24, 2022
  • Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib, book cover. Photo courtesy of Cune Press
    Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib
    November 1, 2021
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • Hussam al-Mayman, The Mayman Show, podcast Arab News
    Arab News launches third season of The Mayman Show podcast
    December 15, 2022
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    October 24, 2022
  • Comedian Ramy Youssef courtesy of his Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ramysfaceboo/
    “Ramy” cable series melds Arab world reality with every day American life
    October 22, 2022
  • The Ray Hanania Radio Show Live Wed 5 PM EST in Detroit, Washington DC, Ontario and on Thursday in Chicago. Watch the program live at Facebook.com/ArabNews
    Second Season of “The Ray Hanania Show” Arab American radio launches April 6
    April 4, 2022
  • American Arab CHamber President HassanNijem accepts the Proclamation from Chicago Ald. Roderick Sawyer at the Chamber dinner March 30, 2022
    Chicagoland celebrates Arab American Heritage Month
    March 31, 2022
  • New-iTunes-1400-x-1400-The-Ray-Hanania-Show-Podcast-Icon-300-x-300.jpg
  • Podcast-iTunes-Logo-Chi-City-Hall-1985.jpg
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
  • powerpr300x300ad.jpg
  • terroristbookcover-300-x-300.jpg
Arab News Newspaper Logo
Read the Arab News, the leading English language newspaper in the MIddle East

Follow Ray Hanania at Gab.com, MeWe.com and IDobbinate.com, the alternatives to Facebook and Twitter Censorship.

Click here to get information on The Ray Hanania Radio Show and its podcasts

Copyright © 2023 The Arab Daily News.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme