Trump arrives in Israel with hope for Palestinian peace
President promises new opportunity for ‘ultimate deal’
JERUSALEM // Donald Trump arrived in Israel from Saudi Arabia yesterday, promising a new opportunity for regional peace.
The US president has cast Israeli-Palestinian peace as the “ultimate deal.”
At a reception on the tarmac at Tel Aviv airport, where he was met by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and president Reuven Rivlin, Mr Trump widened his promise for peace.
“We have before us a rare opportunity to bring security and stability and peace to this region and to its people, defeating ter- rorism and creating a future of harmony, prosperity and peace,” Mr Trump said. “But we can only get there working together.”
Mr Netanyahu said he also had a commitment to peace.
“We’ve made peace with Egypt and with Jordan, and Israel’s hand is extended in peace to all our neighbours, including the Palestinians,” he said. Mr Trump moved on to Jerusalem’s Old City, where he became the first sitting US president to visit the Western Wall, Judaism’s second holiest site. Mr Netanyahu had wanted to accompany him to the wall, which is beneath Haram Al Sharif, Islam’s third holiest site.
But the US state department said that was not allowed as the Wall is in East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied 50 years ago.
Today, Mr Trump will visit the West Bank to meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
Palestinians in the Old City were wary of being used by Mr Trump to advance a peace process that would bolster his image but not change their lives.
His visit to Riyadh, during which he called for unity to combat extremism and oversaw the signing of US$380 billion (Dh1.4 trillion) worth of deals, was hailed as a success by the White House and Arab leaders.
But Mr Trump is in dire need of further foreign policy success as he faces scrutiny over campaign ties with Russia back home.
“Trump is coming for his own benefit,” said Maher Abu Dahoud, 40, a waiter whose restaurant was closed as part of a strike supporting Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli prisons.
The strike, which closed shops throughout Jerusalem and the West Bank, seemed to be a cause of greater concern for Palestinians than Mr Trump’s visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and then the Western Wall.
Near by, throngs of Israeli policemen stood by fabric and metal barricades that blocked the winding corridors leading to the holy sites.
Diana Buttu, a former Palestinian negotiator and analyst, said Palestinians had good reason to be sceptical of Mr Trump, given that the US president appointed David Friedman, a supporter of Jewish settlements on occupied land, as US ambassador to Israel.
Mr Friedman arrived in Israel last week and immediately visited the Western Wall, giving the holy site a traditional kiss. Mr Trump’s daughter Ivanka visited the women’s side of the wall yesterday. She converted to Judaism to marry businessman Jared Kushner, an orthodox Jew who is now one of the president’s top advisers. Ms Buttu also named Trump supporter Sheldon Adelson, the pro-Israel casino magnate who donated to his election campaign, as evidence of the president’s bias towards Israel.
Mr Adelson is reportedly disappointed in Mr Trump for dragging his feet on a campaign promise to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The mostly symbolic act would signal to Israel that America recognised Jerusalem as its capital.
Even so, Ms Buttu was sceptical that Mr Trump had changed from his avowed pro-Israel elec- tion stance, noting that life had become more difficult for Palestinians since he took office. Mr Trump said settlements “may not be helpful” to the peace process, but had yet to denounce them, she said. “When it comes to those of us that are living here and dealing with the situation on the ground, you can feel the checkpoints getting worse and the settlements going up and the homes coming down,” said Ms Buttu.
She was talking of the increase in Palestinian home demolitions since Mr Trump took office.
His meeting with Mr Abbas will be his second this month after a warm visit to the White House this month.
But that means little to most Palestinians, said Ms Buttu.
Mr Abbas is facing challenges to his legitimacy for failing to stand up to the Israeli occupation.
When Mr Trump travels to Bethlehem today, he will not be meeting the Palestinian people, but Mr Abbas, said Mr Abu Dahoud.
But while many Old City Palestinians expressed doubts about Mr Trump, one man, 67, who had come from Hebron to collect money for orphans was blissfully ignorant about the day’s events in Jerusalem.
“This is the first I have heard of him,” said Ribhi Abu Snene.
Mr Trump’s daughter Ivanka visited the women’s side of the Western Wall yesterday