Jerusalem: US has crossed the red line

The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest issues in the Arab-Israel conflict. Since Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967, after it had annexed its western part in the 1948 Middle East war, Palestinians there are hemmed in by the Israeli occupation. Almost all the Palestinian territory is now encircled by a growing network of Jewish townships and neighbourhoods, cutting the residents off from what has remained of the West Bank. Wednesday's US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's only capital has shattered all hopes of peace and stability in the region. No sane person would buy Trump's argument that "delaying the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital has not helped achieve peace over the past two decades". In an address from the White House, Trump promised to support a two-state solution to the Palestine dispute. Trump seems to be an ardent supporter of what would be a true solution only in name, with Israel dictating the terms. It was a 'solution' on which his predecessor's administration continued to insist with a lot of caution. The administration of President Barack Obama had taken an initiative for a two-state solution, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded with reluctant lip-service. Not only has a far-right US president added greater complexity to the Middle East conundrum, he has at the same time inflicting yet another blow to Palestinians and Arabs, in a year marking the 50th anniversary of the 1967 war, and on the centenary of the signing of the infamous Balfour Declaration - a full century of Palestinians' humiliation by Zionism and the West. US endorsement of Israel's claim to all of Jerusalem is certain to reverse long-standing US policy that the city's status must be decided in negotiations with the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. The international community - the United Nations and its bodies, in particular - does not recognize Israel's illegal rule over the entire city, which is home to sites holy to Muslims, Christians and Jews.
A world leader who has echoed the Muslim world's sentiments and challenged the US in this regard is Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Threatening to cut off diplomatic ties with Israel, he has told the world in unambiguous terms: "Jerusalem is a red line for Muslims... We implore the US once again. You cannot take this step." Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi - the first foreign head of state or government to visit Trump at the White House on his election as president - is among the Arab leaders - who pleaded with him. Saudi King Salman, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas all received phone calls from Trump about the new US move and all of them told him that unilateral steps on Jerusalem would derail the fledgling US-led peace effort and unleash a new round of turmoil in the region. Mahmoud Abbas, the successor to late Yasser Arafat, "warned of the dangerous consequences such a decision would have on the peace process and to the peace, security and stability of the region and of the world". He appealed to the Pope and the leaders of Russia, France and Jordan to intervene. Echoing Abbas's reaction, King Abdullah II has told Trump that such a decision would have dangerous repercussions on the stability and security of the region. Speaking to Abbas, the king said that both of them had to work together to "confront the consequences of this decision". President Sisi said that he "affirmed the Egyptian position on preserving the legal status of Jerusalem within the framework of international references and relevant UN resolutions." King Salman, who has successfully launched a military coalition that showcases the participation of 42 Islamic countries, has told the US president that "any American announcement regarding the situation of Jerusalem prior to reaching a permanent settlement will harm peace talks and increase tensions in the region". Pakistan is among the countries that have condemned the US move.
The non-Muslim leaders from outside the Arab world who have also criticized the US decision so far are Germany's foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel and the European Union's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini. According to Gabriel, "it's in everyone's interest that this [recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's new capital] does not happen." Mogherini said that any action that would undermine peace efforts to create two separate states for the Israelis and the Palestinians "must absolutely be avoided".
The Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu had been pushing the US president to quickly fulfil his election campaign promise to overturn the decades-old of US foreign policy and recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv. The US president seems to be oblivious of the fact that any unilateral action would have the potential of undermining the two-state solution, although he would have been expected to help in the establishment of a Palestinian state on the basis of 1967 borders. He also appears to be unmindful of the fact that such a dangerous step will surely inflame the passions of Muslims around the world, including those living in the Americas, due to the status of Jerusalem as the city of the al-Aqsa Mosque.
Has the US decided to alienate the entire Islamic world? The appeasement of Israel through Trump's "Jerusalem gift" would do nothing but add to the list of fatal follies and blunders that the world's sole superpower has committed in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.