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US Embassy setback for peace Jewish, Arab peace groups argue

Shalom Achshav and APN: New US Embassy in Jerusalem is a Setback for Peace. And, Arab American Institute Omar Baddar analyzes move

Washington, DC – Israel’s pre-eminent peace movement Shalom Achshav (Peace Now) and its American sister-organization Americans for Peace Now are alarmed by the negative impact of Donald Trump’s transferring of America’s Israel embassy to Jerusalem.

In a celebratory event attended by top American and Israeli officials, the Trump administration is today inaugurating its new embassy in Jerusalem.

Amid the pomp and circumstance, the destructive impact of this move appears to be lost on many in Israel and the United States.

Earlier, Peace Now published an ad in the daily newspaper Haaretz, underscoring the price Israelis and Palestinians are paying because American and Israeli leaders are adopting a zero-sum view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, all the while scoring domestic political points.

Night shot of the Israeli supreme court building in Jerusalem which provides two sets of justice, one for Jews and one for non-Jews inside Israel. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

President Trump’s announcement regarding the embassy move, made in the White House against the backdrop of a Christmas tree and beaming Vice President Pence, was a transparent move to pander to evangelical Christians in his political base. It also satisfied the demands of conservative Jewish donors, particularly Sheldon Adelson, who offered to help pay for building the new embassy. For Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the embassy move comes as a gift in the midst of multiple corruption investigations in which he has been implicated.

This populist move, taken unilaterally and without any recognition of Palestinians’ attachment to Jerusalem and their national aspirations for sovereignty over the Palestinian-inhabited parts of the city, is a boon to extremists on both sides. Israeli Jewish extremists, who view the conflict and its resolution as a zero-sum game and reject any future Palestinian sovereignty in East Jerusalem, interpret Trump’s move as an endorsement of their worldview. Palestinian extremists, particularly those who see the conflict as a religious war, interpret Trump’s move as an affirmation of the widespread view that the “Crusader west” is colluding with Zionism to deny Muslims’ attachment to the third holiest site to Islam and thus to challenge their faith.

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Playing into the hands of the extremists and framing the conflict as religious strife, even if inadvertently, weakens the pragmatists who should be emboldened as interlocutors for peace negotiations. Recognizing Israeli political claims to Jerusalem without any recognition of Palestinian aspirations in this holy city wrecks America’s role as an honest, effective broker.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the official Palestinian leadership, the PLO, has frozen all its relations with the Trump administration, bringing the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process to a screeching halt.

Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic deadlock is neither in the national security interest of Israel, nor that of the United States.

If the Trump administration maintains any interest in advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace, it must foster trust on both sides, among Israelis and Palestinians alike. The best way to do so now, regarding the question of Jerusalem, is for the United States to publicly recognize that the Palestinians too have legitimate claims to parts of Jerusalem. That has traditionally been the position of past administrations — Democratic and Republican — and should be re-endorsed by the Trump administration.

Peace Now and APN urge our fellow Israelis and Americans to see the US embassy opening in Jerusalem for what it is. Simply put, it is a political stunt that fulfills a campaign promise for Donald Trump at the cost of future reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians, both of whom must have their narratives recognized and claims to Jerusalem addressed if we are ever to see a peace accord.

Do we long for the day when the United States, together with the rest of the world, recognizes that Israel’s capital is in Jerusalem? Absolutely. But not like this. It must happen in the context of a serious and earnest attempt to resolve – not exacerbate – the conflict.

Friends of Israel should realize that Israel needs to end the occupation more than it needs symbolic gestures.

Israelis and Americans, together, must press their leaders to put peace first. Once it is achieved, we will truly have reason to celebrate.

Arab American Institute Omar Baddar analyzes Embassy move

Statement from Arab American Institute Deputy Director Omar Baddar on Moving the Israel Embassy to Jerusalem:

Today, the Trump Administration has opened a US embassy in Jerusalem, cementing his decision to recognize the city as Israel’s capital. Trump’s decision breaks with previous administrations, making his the first to accede to congressional pandering on Israel, in violation of international law. Recognizing the sensitivity and significance of Jerusalem to so many religious communities around the globe, the 1947 UN partition plan protected the city from falling under one state’s control, mandating it fall under international jurisdiction. That’s why the UN not only condemned Trump’s decision to recognize the city as Israel’s capital by an overwhelming vote, but has repeatedly and consistently rejected all of Israel’s efforts to change the status of the city.

This embassy move cannot be understood in isolation of its context: Israel illegally annexed Palestinian East Jerusalem, and continues to carry out a campaign of displacement of Palestinians in the city, demolishing their homes, revoking their residency, and allowing Israeli settlers to take their property. The Trump Administration has not uttered a single word against Israel’s usurpation of Jerusalem, and his State Department has even dropped the use of the word “occupation” altogether when describing Israel’s presence on Palestinian lands. Coupling these actions with Trump’s repeated assertion that Jerusalem has been taken “off the table,” this decision amounts to an American endorsement of Israel’s denial of Palestinian rights in Jerusalem. Peace requires some degree of justice, and denying Palestinians their capital is too great an injustice for any lasting peace agreement to emerge. In that sense, this decision by the Trump Administration scores a critical blow against the already weak prospect of peace in the foreseeable future.

Emboldened by Trump’s decision, Israel has already stepped up anti-Palestinian measures, passing laws to separate Palestinian neighborhoods from Jerusalem, easing the revoking of Palestinians’ residency, and complicating any potential Israeli withdrawal from any part of the city. Apart from the fundamental unfairness imposed on Palestinians, the embassy move also risks to spark renewed violence, as the situation appears increasingly like a powder keg. This is true on the ground where Israel kills unarmed Palestinian demonstrators with impunity, as well as regionally, where Trump’s withdrawal from the ‘Iran Deal’ and Israel’s increasing military activities in Syria have set the stage for an escalation. The embassy move in this context is yet another reckless decision by the Trump Administration that could directly lead to unnecessary loss of human life. We condemn this decision in the strongest terms, and call on “the adults in the room”, both in Congress and the White House, to find constructive measures to mitigate the damage resulting from the irresponsible actions of this administration.

Founded in 1985, the Arab American Institute (AAI) is a nonprofit organization committed to the civic and political empowerment of Americans of Arab descent. AAI provides policy, research and public affairs services to support a broad range of community activities. For more information please visit aaiusa.org.

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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.

"I write about three topics, the Middle East, politics and life in general. I often take my life experiences and offer them in an entertaining way to readers, and I take on the toughest topics like the Israel-Palestine conflict and don't pull any punches about what I feel is fair. But, my priority is always about writing the good story."

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