Every week on Monday, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: Trump And Jerusalem: Strategic Mistake Or Smart Move?
Bookworm Room : It's not a smart move. It's a brilliant move. Let me count the ways:
1. It truly acknowledges Israel's sovereignty because a sovereign nation gets to choose its own capital.
2. It aligns American policy with longstanding American law.
3. It tells the Palestinians that their decades' long, bloody, post-Oslo Accords temper tantrum is over.
4. It tells the Muslim world that its decades' long post-Oslo Accords temper tantrum is over.
5. It changes the accepted, and consistently failed, paradigm of pretending that Palestinians have a say in Israel's self-governance.
6. It exposes how America's fracking and Iran's Obama-powered ascendance have dramatically affected power and alliances in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is no longer floating on a sea of oil wealth and it's terrified of Iran, so the modernizing Prince Salman improves women's rights, tries to teach men how to work . . . and starts working with Israel. More and more Sunni nations will soon do the same. Those nations' leaders always knew that Israel was a scapegoat to distract an ignorant, inbred people from their own governments' failures and brutality. Now, with a real boogeyman on the horizon in the form of Iran, it's time for them to get real and know who their actual friends are. This will involve retraining their subjects, but ignorant masses can be moved.
Rob Miller: I discussed what happened and why here, and the the back story is definitely of some interest.The compact car version is that Abbas thought he was still dealing with Barack Hussein Obama and acted out, doing what had always worked before...obstruction, violence and outre' demands
It didn't work at all with President Donald John Trump. And he reacted to Abbas's four major provocations with, shall we say, a message that the old schtick isn't going to work anymore.
It also didn't work either with most of the Arab countries, some of whom served up some tasty rhetoric but really don't consider 'Palestine' or Abbas a priority and haven't for some time. Iran looms much bigger in their consciousness, and a rapport with Trump and with Israel is far more vital to them just now.
Abbas's song and dance did work with EU leaders like Merkel, Macron and the UK's Theresa May who are petrified of their own domestic Muslim population. They might be better advised to worry about regaining control of their own cities from these foreign invaders rather than sticking their noses into Israel's affairs.
And at any rate, Abbas's attempts to get the EU and/or the UN to take over the moribund peace process and exclude the U.S. are beyond stupid, although they're what you might expect from a Soviet trained 82-year-old kleptocrat dictator. Israel is not going to accept diktats from the EU or the UN, and furthermore Trump is not going to lean on Israel the way Bush, Clinton and Obama did. The U.S. is getting pretty tired of 'Palestine' too, and it is the U.S. that provides $948 million of the $1.2 billion of the budget of the largest and best funded UN agency, UNRWA, the one devoted exclusively to the Arabs called 'Palestinians.' And with the bipartisan passage of the Taylor Force Act in congress, much of the U.S. aid to 'Palestine' is going to be curtailed due to Abbas's refusal to stop using donor funds to financially reward terrorist murderers and their families.
Don Surber: Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Doesn't matter what the UN or anyone says. G-d has spoken.
Every president has recognized this. Trump is moving the embassy -- with the blessing of the House of Saud.
Let me explain.
Back in May, Trump made his first foreign visit as president. His stops were, in order, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Vatican, Brussels (NATO) and Italy (G-8).
In Riyadh, Trump and his family were greeted as royalty. Ivanka and her husband, both Jewish, were praised in the papers, as was Melania. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and President Trump did a sword dance with the Saudis -- which is a prelude to a battle. Details of just what they agreed to and what they battle are emerging six months later.
Then Trump did the single most important thing on that trip. He flew directly from Riyadh to Ben Gurion Airport. No one said a word. It was the first direct flight by anyone between those two nations. This was historic. Diplomacy required not publicly acknowledging this.
If you think the Saudis or any other Arabs care about Jerusalem, you need to do some homework. Yes, the Palestinians are upset and Egypt and a few other governments officially complained. But only the Persians (Iran) oppose it.
The Gulf states led the charge in Syria to oust the Islamic State. The USA had a supporting role. Better to have Arabs liberate Arabs. Israeli intell also came in handy. Yes, the Israelis and Saudis work together. They have common interests.
The Yom Kippur War ended Arabia's taste for war with Israel. That was 44 years ago.
The new head of state of Saudi Arabia is 32. His best buddy in the Trump administration is Jared Kushner.
Ecclesiastes tells us: To every thing there is a season... A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
The 21st century is a time of peace.
Moving the embassy to Jerusalem is a recognition of that peace.
Patrick O'Hannigan : May I propose a third possibility, because it's the one I'd affirm?
Not "strategic mistake" or "smart move," but "moral imperative."
President Trump is simply doing what other presidents have only paid lip service to. t's ironic how controversial that kind of integrity is in some quarters.
When the Muslim mayor of Nazareth canceled official Christmas celebrations in that town this year, he blamed President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel. Newsweek was among the media outlets that accepted that stupid justification. Since when is it an American president's fault when a municipal bureaucrat on the other side of the world can't get over his own sense of entitlement. Or the ahistorical grievance-mongering of people who regard peaceful coexistence as a perpetual challenge?
David Schuler: If it serves to demonstrate that other Arab countries don't really care about the Palestinians or Jerusalen other than as a cudgel to beat over the heads of the Israelis, it's a good thing. Otherwise it's just an acknowledgement of reality.
The Jerusalem Embassy Act, calling for the U. S. to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem by 1999, has been on the books for more than 20 years. Twice a year, campaign promises to the contrary notwithstanding, Democratic and Republican presidents have requested delays, a feature of the law, presumably to satisfy separation of power questions.
As much as anything else moving the embassy to Jerusalem is just obeying the law.
Laura Rambeau Lee : President Trump finally committed America to what we have acknowledged for years but previous presidents were too cowardly to implement. In 1995 Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act which declared that Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel and that the United States would move our embassy to Jerusalem within five years from the date of the act. Every president since this act was passed signed a waiver every six months, delaying what the American people have supported for over two decades. By his declaration President Trump is affirming our recognition of the sovereignty of the State of Israel and its right to determine where its capital is located.
This is a smart move, perhaps even genius, on President Trump’s part. It will force the Palestinians to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist, which has been a non- starter in the peace negotiations for decades. Knowing Israel has the full backing and support of the United States and watching as we prepare and move our embassy to Jerusalem, the Palestinians will be forced to negotiate a workable solution for peace in the region. With President Trump America will stand firm in our position to seek peace in the region with Israel existing as a sovereign state, which has been the goal all along.
James Kirwin: I had the pleasure of visiting the Western Wall in May of this year. Even though I’m not Jewish it was a deeply moving experience.
The idea that a holy site dating back 3,000 years should be handed back to the Jordanians – who didn’t even exist 100 years ago – or the so-called “Palestinians” who also didn’t exist until the 20th century, is ludicrous.
The Jews have to be the only indigenous people the Left doesn’t want to see their land returned to.
Jerusalem belongs to Israel. That’s a fact – and if the Left and the so-called “Palestinians” don’t get that, then that’s their problem.
Time to face reality.
Well, there it is!
Make sure to drop by every Monday for the WoW! Magazine Forum. And enjoy WoW! Magazine 24-7 with some of the best stuff written in the 'net. Take from me, you won't want to miss it.
No comments:
Post a Comment