Last Nail in the Coffin of Two-State Solution in Palestine

Rasa - It is said every dark cloud has a silver lining. Not US President Donald Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem Al-Quds as Israel’s new capital.

News ID: 435280

Date: 11 December 2017 - 23:54

RNA - The torrent of complex this problem that Trump has unleashed by his recognition will plague United States policy and Middle East peace-making for many years. Consider these news headlines first that appeared after his dangerous decision to also move the US embassy to the Holy City:

UN Security Council Members Condemn Trump’s Jerusalem Move

Israeli Airstrikes Pound Gaza After Rocket Hits Sderot

Two Dead, Hundreds Wounded in Palestinian ‘Day of Rage’

Protests Across Middle East Against Trump’s Jerusalem Declaration

All these headlines imply one thing: You cannot un-recognize a capital once you have recognized it. Whatever caveats he may offer, Trump has effectively accepted Israel’s annexation of vast swaths of the occupied West Bank into greater Jerusalem Al-Quds, and its declaration of this entire zone as its “eternal undivided capital.”

But in plunging the Middle East into what will be a prolonged crisis, and saddling future generations of American policy-makers with the burden of dealing with the mess he has made, Trump has inadvertently cleared the air. He may have smashed a rotten status quo of US “peace processing” that has served only to entrench and legitimize Israel’s military occupation and colonization of Palestinian land for a quarter-century, which has made more difficult a just, lasting peace.

After Trump, how can the eternally dishonest broker even pretend to act as a mediator? Trump has, in effect, adopted wholesale the Israeli position that all of Jerusalem Al-Quds belongs exclusively to the Zionist regime, and that all of it - including areas extending far north, south, and east of the city - is the usurper regime’s capital, denying the Palestinians any national or political rights there. He has thereby nailed the United States flag to a position that antagonizes virtually every Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim, and the overwhelming majority of peoples and governments around the world.

There can be no going back to the old formula in place for decades, whereby the United States colluded privately with Israel and the two powers thereafter imposed their will on the Palestinians. That was never the way to achieve a just and lasting peace; it served only to oblige the weaker party to bow to the will of the stronger, which in turn exacerbated and prolonged the conflict. If this changes, it is indeed a silver lining to what promises to be a debacle for US diplomacy and for the stability of the Middle East.

So what next?

Surely Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem Al-Quds as Israel’s capital does not represent only the last nail in the coffin of the two-State solution, but also a strong blow in the face of 57 Muslim countries, including Arab allies, let alone igniting fire in this easily inflammable region, providing more false arguments to criminal Zionist groups and illegal settlers to escalate their brutal attacks on Palestinians, in addition to taking a step further in Washington’s new wars and the ‘restructuring’ of the Middle East.

These are the main conclusions both Middle East analysts and international policy experts reached as soon as Trump announced on 6 December 2017 his decision to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Al-Quds, thus recognizing as capital of Israel this Holy City, home to essential shrines of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

On this, the ‘Old City’ of Al-Quds has been steadily considered by Palestinians to become the capital of their future state, should all international agreements – including the United Nations General Assembly — implement their commitment for the peace process. Palestinian leaders have already warned that Trump’s move could have dangerous consequences, calling for massive popular mobilizations that are feared to lead to new bloodshed in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Another immediate, dangerous consequence of President Trump’s decision could be a new wave of attacks on US and Western interests worldwide. This will tragically and dangerously unleash a new wave of hatred and Islamophobia that will only add fuel to popular anger, to the benefit of terrorist groups, Washington, Tel Aviv, and their client states in the Arab world. Judging by what’s happened over the last 98 years, i.e. since the then British Empire released its 1919 Balfour Declaration granting Israel a national home in Palestine, it’s time to fasten your seatbelts all over again, because it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

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