Is It Really about Jerusalem?

by Bassam Tawil • December 19, 2017 at 5:00 am

It is worth noting that the campaign against US institutions also states that the Palestinians' real goal is to "liberate Palestine, from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river." In other words, this means that the true goal of the Palestinians is to destroy Israel.
Why do Mahmoud Abbas's remarks come as a surprise? He is simply reiterating the official, long-standing policy of the Palestinian Authority. Where has the West been when Palestinian leaders have declared outright, decade after decade, that Israel has no right to exist and Jewish history is nothing more than lies?
Let us get things straight, finally. The Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims cannot stomach the fact that Israel exists, period. Their real problem is not with Trump's recognition of the reality -- that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Rather, they have a problem with Israel's very existence.

A Palestinian young man prepares to throw a firebomb at Israeli soldiers near Ramallah, December 11, 2017. (Photo by Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images)

The protests that have swept the West Bank, Gaza Strip and large parts of the Arab and Islamic world in the aftermath of US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital show that most Arabs and Muslims still have not come to terms with Israel's right to exist.

The protests also provide further evidence that many Arabs and Muslims, including, of course, the Palestinians, continue to view the US as an enemy and "big Satan" because of its support for Israel. Trump's announcement is just another excuse for Arabs and Muslims to vent their long-standing hatred for Israel and the US.

For the Palestinians, Trump's announcement simply provided the latest opportunity to step up their violent and rhetorical attacks and threats against Israel. As such, there is nothing new about the Palestinian protests that erupted after Trump's announcement.

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The US Embassy Move to Jerusalem vs. The "Peace Process"

by Denis MacEoin • December 19, 2017 at 4:30 am

The Palestinians do not want peace. They want victory, a victory that will lead to the elimination of Israel and the expulsion of the Jews.
The 1968 charter of the PLO has never been changed, despite decades of promises that it would be modified. Although secular in character, it advances much the same attitudes as those found in the Hamas charters. In Article 2, for example, it defines "Palestine" in boundaries encompassing the entirety of Israel: "Palestine, with the boundaries it had during the British Mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit". This means that calls for a Palestinian state based on that definition are also calls for the destruction of Israel.
All attempts at normalization between Palestinians and Israelis or between other Arab states and Israel are routinely dismissed as treachery, a position that endangers the lives of any Palestinian who seeks peace.
Meanwhile, Western leaders, including religious figures such as the Pope, are enchanted with the fantasy that a peace process exists, and forever chant the mantra that nothing must be done to interrupt it. President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is the first time any world leader has stood up to the threats of anger and violence.

Like his predecessor Yasser Arafat (left), Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (right) is doubtless correctly convinced that any deal he might sign would propel him to be "drinking tea" with assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, the first Arab leader to sign a peace agreement with Israel.

On December 6, US President Donald Trump fulfilled a promise that was made by Congress on November 28, 1995 in its Jerusalem Embassy Act -- to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel and to mark this by moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to the ancient city. That move, according to the Act itself, was to "be established in Jerusalem no later than May 31, 1999". Trump's declaration that the US will now implement the Act has been a historical démarche. So why has it taken so long to act on this agreement?

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Turkey Mania: "Jerusalem is Muslim"

by Burak Bekdil • December 19, 2017 at 4:00 am

By rejecting Jerusalem's Judaic history, Erdogan is ironically denying that his holy book, the Quran, recognizes the Land of Israel. The Quran does not say that the Israelites originated in Alaska.
The United States will not retract its decision just because it angered the already angry jihadists in Turkey or elsewhere in the realm of Islam.
"There is only one conclusion we can draw from this comparison: The 'ummah,' the Muslim religious community, is tired of the Jerusalem issue.... [F]or many years angry groups have been chanting 'Down with Israel' and nothing happens to Israel. The angry slogans and burned flags have been no use for many decades. Most leaders of Muslim-majority countries are wary of the issue, and the Palestinian cause is used in many other countries simply as an outlet to reinforce the ruler." — Ahmet Hakan, columnist, Hurriyet Daily News.

Protesters outside the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey shout slogans against the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, on December 6, 2017. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has unveiled multiple hypocrisies that sadly capture the minds of Islamist leaders and their willing choruses of jihadists.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Turkey, not surprisingly, champions the global Islamist war on Trump's move. In a latest show of "solidarity with the Palestinian cause," Turkey spearheaded efforts at a summit of Islamic nations in Istanbul to declare "eastern Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine under occupation".

Erdogan's argument is too weak and unconvincing from the beginning. He has simply chosen to attack Israel although what has newly entered the political equation on Jerusalem was a sovereign U.S. pronouncement. The pragmatist in Erdogan wanted to ignore that simply because the U.S. is too big to bite for him.

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