On Trump and Jerusalem
LETTERS
Re: Trump: ‘ Today we finally acknowledge the obvious’, Dec. 7 I thought your headline said it all; Trump is acknowledging the obvious. But what’s obvious about his decision to formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is that the idea of a two-state solution is dead, finished, over.
The so-called “peace process” has finally been exposed for what it was: a fraud. Trump’s decision also reveals what the rest of the world already knew: that the U. S. was never an honest broker. Its massive and uncritical financial and diplomatic support for Israel over the years says it all. The Palestinians never stood a chance.
Trump said in his speech on Wednesday that it’s time to rethink old assumptions. Good idea. He and his administration could start by talking about a one-state solution, Israel and Palestine, where Palestinians have full political and civil rights. Trump wants to be different from his predecessors? This is a great opportunity.
Sadly, the idea of a Palestinian state is over. It has faded away like a mirage in the desert. The West never really cared and the Arab world, which paid lip service to the Palestinian cause, has moved on with so many other issues in the region to deal with. Andrew van Velzen, Toronto
To argue against the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the sovereign Jewish State of Israel is the absolute pinnacle of absurdity. Nobody of rational thought seriously considers questioning the recognition of Ottawa as Canada’s capital, or of Washington as that of the United States, and yet their claims to those cities — as opposed to any claims from Indigenous tribes — is on far shakier ground than the claims of the Jewish nation to Jerusalem, a documented indigenousness more firmly established than any other in recorded human history. Chuck Elnekave, Thornhill, Ont.
Today, the world’s Jewish population is less than 15 million, with three quarters of this total living in Israel and the U. S. This, after 2,000 years of crusades, inquisitions, pogroms, expulsions and, of course, the calumny and barbarism of the Holocaust. All this followed by the UN Partition Plan for a two-state solution, which the Palestinian Arabs rejected, followed by four attempts by Arab armies to annihilate Israel and its Jews.
Peace for whom? For Jews there never has been peace. In spite of the horrors of anti-Semitism, the Jewish adherence to the adage “no matter what happens in this life, you have to live” gives credence to the extraordinary contribution Jews have made to life and living.
Can anyone explain why Jews have been subjected to 2,000 years of turmoil and terror? Why the return of Jews to their ancient homeland is so difficult for the world to accept? Why Jews are forced to defend themselves for surviving, living and generally contributing? ANYONE? Marvin Sharpe, Victoria
As a retaliatory gesture, the Palestinian Authority might consider recognizing Danville, Virginia, the last capital of the Confederacy, as the capital of the U.S.A. Howard Greenfield, Montreal