Talk trash and clash
Leaders feud amid Israel violence
VIOLENT CLASHES broke out Sunday in pockets of the Mideast in the wake of a U.S. policy shift recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a move the French president called “dangerous for peace.”
A Palestinian stabbed an Israeli security guard in Jerusalem, the first attack in the linchpin city since President Trump said he would move the U.S. Embassy there and shut down the one in Tel Aviv.
In Beirut, Lebanese and Palestinian demonstrators clashed with security forces outside the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy, and foreign ministers meeting in Cairo demanded that the United States rescind the decision.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron, in Paris with Israel’s visiting prime minister, condemned recent attacks against Israelis as well as the decision by Trump.
“It doesn’t seem to serve, in the short term, the cause of Israel’s security and the Israelis themselves,” Macron said.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he couldn’t be happier with the shift.
“Paris is the capital of France, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel,” Netanyahu said. “We respect your history and your choices. And we know that as friends, you respect ours.
“I think the sooner the Palestinians come to grips with this reality, the sooner we move toward peace,” he added.
Back in the U.S., Trump’s United Nations ambassador, Nikki Haley, defended the decision, calling it a “courageous” move that would advance the Mideast peace process.
“This is a move the American people have asked for,” Haley said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“Every presidential candidate, Republican or Democrat, has all said that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and the embassy should be moved. President Trump’s the only one that had the courage to actually do that.”
The announcement has been condemned by Arab states and U.S. allies alike, who say it is likely to increase tensions in the volatile region.
But Haley (photo inset, right) said it was merely a recognition of the reality on the ground — that Jerusalem functions as Israel’s capital, with its government operations located there.
“It’s just reality. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel,” she said. “Any time you have to use courage, any time you have to go against the status quo, you’re going to have people saying the sky is falling. But the sky is not falling. If anything, what we’re going to see is both sides are going to come to the table.”
She said the move has no bearing on the final status of Jerusalem, which the Palestinians also claim as their capital.
It is expected to take years before the United States can relocate its embassy, which is now in Tel Aviv.
Before he made the announcement, Trump signed a waiver allowing the embassy to stay put for another six months, as required by a 1995 law.
“I strongly believe this is going to move the ball forward in the peace process,” Haley said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
But Sen. Ben Cardin, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said Trump missed an opportunity to use the status of Jerusalem to push the two sides toward peace. “What the President should have done is (do) it in the right diplomatic way. And there I think he did not,” Cardin said on ABC’s “This Week.” “It should have been done in a way to advance the peace process or a two-state solution. Instead, the President just made the announcement, did not take advantage of that in regards to the Israelis, and offered the Palestinians very little. I think that was a mistake.” The Maryland senator did agree that “clearly Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.”
But he said making the move the way Trump did was the latest lapse by a President with little appetite for subtlety on the world stage.
“There was a right way of doing this, and the President, to date, has not shown his understanding of the importance of diplomacy,” he said.
Arab foreign ministers on Sunday demanded the U.S. reverse Trump’s formal recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“It’s a dangerous development that places the United States at a position of bias in favor of the occupation and the violation of international law and resolutions,” they wrote.