The Jerusalem move could be the death knell of peace efforts

The Times of Israel reported Dec. 7: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday led the chorus of glowing praise for U.S. President Donald Trump over his ‘historic’ decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, with the top Israeli leaders insisting the move will not hurt peace efforts with the Palestinians.”

The tragedy of the “peace process” is that so many good people, from President Bill Clinton to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to President George W. Bush to Secretary of State John Kerry, ignored the realities around them.

As I have been telling my students, there will not be any real movement toward peace until the real powers decide that it should be so. These were, and still are, the religious right and their proxies, the settlers in Israel, and Iran and its proxies Hamas and Hezbollah on the Palestinian side. And the political novice, Jared Kushner, declares that he has the solution at hand!

The Sunni Gulf states, on their part, were also trying to advance the peace process. Their goal was to establish relations with Israel to help counter the Iranian threat, but they could not approach Israel as long as the Palestinian question has not been settled.

In the past year, or two, the Iranian threat has mushroomed. So long as peace was possible, the Sunni Gulf States dared approach Israel “off the record.” The potential impact of economic and military alliances between Israel and the Gulf States cannot be exaggerated.

The peace process with the Palestinians has been in intensive care; the declarations from Washington may have moved it to the morgue. RAM KOSSOWSKY

Oakland