Trump’s ‘assault’ against peace in the Middle East
Following therecent visit by Israel’s Netanyahu to America’s Trump, the long hope for a solution to the Middle East crisis would seem to have been taken back to where it was before the eight years of Obama’s presidency in America.Breaking away from his predecessor’s standpoint on the Middle East crisis, President Donald Trump has adopted a vaguer position on Palestinian statehood and a more lenient approach that seeks to favour Israel in West Bank settlements. Trump’s decision to also move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to fortify Israel’s claim to the city as its capital is another indication for a new Israeli-American relation described by Trump as ‘a new day’.For Netanyahu, the talks with Trump are an opportunity to reset ties after a frequently combative relationship with Obama.
In a joint press conference with Netanyahu, Trump offered unwavering support for Israel. In a striking departure from longtime American policy, Trump also refrained from supporting a two -state solution to the Israeli - Palestinian conflict, saying he would accedeto whatever solution the sides agreed upon. Netanyahu pleased his coalition partners by holding back from mentioning a potential Palestinian state as well. “I’m looking at two states and one state, and I like the one both parties like”, Trump told a joint news conference with Netanyahu, adding “I can live with either one”.
The one-state idea would be deeply problematic for both sides. One concept would be two systems for two peoples, which Palestinians would see as apartheid. Another version would mean equal rights for all, including for Palestinians in an annexed West Bank, but that would compromise Israel’s Jewish character.Martin Indyk, a former Middle East negotiator under Obama described President Trump’s action as“another nail in the coffin of the peace process, which already had a lot of nails in it”.
In January this year, the United Nations (UN) Security Council adopted a resolution that calls for a two-state solution to end the IsraeliPalestinian conflict in the Middle East. The resolutionrequired Israel to end settlements construction in occupied Palestine. The fact that this resolution was allowed to pass with spontaneous cheers made it look historic; thus illustrating the strongest rebuke made by President Barrack Obama’s administration against Israeli policy. Fourteen out of fifteen countries supported the resolution, while the United States (US) abstained; drawing condemnations from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the US President-elect Donald Trump. The US abstained from the January 2017 UN vote in order to halt Israeli settlement activities in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Speaking in Washington, DC after that historic UN Security Council vote, the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, warned Israel that it would never achieve peace if one state is its choice because “Israel can only choose to be Jewish or democratic but cannot be both”. Kerry defended the US decision to abstain from the UN vote stating that the US voted in accordance with its values and conscience.