US mediating role is gone, experts say

Washington sees conflict in Middle East ‘with Israeli eyes’

CAIRO — Recent decisions by the administration of US President Donald Trump against the Palestinians and in favor of Israel have proved that Washington’s mediating role as a peacemaker in the IsraeliPalestinian conflict has gone, Egyptian political experts said.

In late August, the United States decided to stop funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, or UNRWA. A few days later, it announced shutting down the office of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Washington.

According to some experts, Washington has never been a fair mediator in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and only acts in a way that achieves Israeli interests.

Going on for decades now, the conflict erupted following the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the Western-backed creation of Israel in 1948.

Peace talks between the two sides have been frozen since 2014 due to Israel’s settlement expansion policy, which has been met by regional and international rejection.

“It is not a peace process in the first place. It is just US pressures ... in favor of Israel,” said Mohamed Gomaa, researcher at the Arab and Regional Unit of Cairo-based Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

He said Israel, with Trump’s unlimited support, aims to put an end to outstanding issues such as the situation of the disputed holy city of Jerusalem, the Palestinian refugees, the Israeli settlement expansion, the issue of state identity and others.

In December, the US vetoed a UN draft resolution that aims to protect the status of Jerusalem, and halt Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem despite regional and international outcry.

The draft was backed by all 14 other members of the UN Security Council, indicating Washington’s isolationist position on the Middle East.

“At this stage, there is no real peace process going on for the conflict nor are there expected negotiations in the near future to talk about a US role,” Gomaa said. “The US sees the conflict with Israeli eyes.”

The Palestinians pin their hopes on the UN-proposed two-state solution for the future establishment of their own independent state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on the pre-1967 borders.

Trump has made clear from the very beginning that his administration would not pressure Israel for the twostate solution and would rather take the conflict in a different direction in line with Israeli interests.

“The US has turned the so-called peace process into a matter of procedures, where the conflict is administered rather than settled,” said Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University.

“Washington is completely biased to Israel and it attempts to use its weight to run the conflict in the way that achieves Israeli interests.”

The moves made by Trump over the past few months regarding the Israeli-Palestinian crisis were fast and frequent, using the ongoing international anti-terror war and the disunity of the Arab world to achieve Washington’s vision for a settlement.

“There is terrorism in the region for real, but the US did not have real interests to fight terrorism but employed it to serve its regional projects and interests,” Nafaa said.

The Arabs, to illustrate the point, hold different positions on the priorities, the basic sources of threats and the map of alliances in the region, which has created a sort of convenient environment for Washington’s vision on the Middle East.

Nafaa said the disunity and division of the Arab world and the various conflicts in several states represent one of the biggest regional weaknesses that have paved the way for the US’ pro-Israel moves.