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International community, Palestinians and even some in Israelis believe that settlement expansion is a major roadblock to finding peaceful solution for Palestine-Israel conflicts. The US President Donald Trump has failed to understand this. Trump has vowed to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, a politically charged act that would anger Palestinians who want east Jerusalem, home to key Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, as the capital of a future state.
Trump’s move will undermine the ability of Palestinians to claim Jerusalem in a future state. It would also distance the US from much of the international community, including its closest allies in Western Europe and the Arab world.
And Trump decision to move the embassy flies in the face of decades-old US policy. Since 1967, when Israel captured east Jerusalem—considered illegal by international community and referred as Israel-occupied territory— no US president, whether Democrats or Republicans, has changed their policy on Israeli occupation.
Washington maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv as do other countries, insisting that conflicting claims to Jerusalem must be worked out in negotiations. The Palestinians have warned against moving the embassy — a highly symbolic act. President Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to revoke recognition of Israel and cut off security ties, and religious leaders said an embassy move would ‘drag the whole region into a religious feud that may have dire consequences.’
There are some 400,000 Israelis living in West Bank settlements, in addition to roughly 200,000 Israelis in east Jerusalem. The Palestinians, with wide international backing, seek both areas for a future independent state.
For decades, US presidents have joined the international community in condemning the settlements as obstacles to the peace process. Last month, Barack Obama refused to veto United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the settlements as a ‘flagrant violation’ of international law. In a farewell speech, Secretary of State John Kerry also harshly criticized the settlements.
Emboldened by Trump in the White House, the Jerusalem municipality approved delayed plans to build hundreds of apartments in the eastern sector of the city that Palestinians claim for a future capital. Mayor Nir Barkat calls the Trump government as the dawn of a ‘new era’ following pressure from the Obama administration to freeze settlement building it saw as hindering Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
After eight years of frosty relations with President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has welcomed Trump’s election as an opportunity to strengthen ties between the two allies. Netanyahu, on Trump’s invitation, is visiting Washington in early February.
Netanyahu has expressed his desire to work closely with Trump to forge a common vision for the region that could include expanded settlement construction on occupied territories and a tougher policy towards Iran.
Trump administration has sent very alarming signals about its intentions. By linking up with the settlers and the illegal settlements enterprise, Trump is placing the new American administration squarely outside the law and is encouraging Israeli lawlessness. He is destroying the chances of peace and preparing for further conflict and instability and violence.
Trump’s plan to relocate the embassy and accelerated constructions on contested land have robbed Palestinians’ hope for a state. If the US moves its embassy to Jerusalem, actually it is recognizing Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem. It could have a ‘disastrous’ impact on the peace process, regional stability and security. It will spawn a regional catastrophe.