With Donald Trump in the White House, speculation is mounting: does he intend to act on his pre-election promise, dating back to January 2016, and reaffirmed both before (personally to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) and since his election, that he will transfer the US embassy in Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital, Jerusalem, in accordance with standard diplomatic practice and the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act? Doubt is being cast on the President’s intention to follow through.
Why?
It has been argued, apparently by Egyptian and Jordanian leaders, that such a move would inflame the Arab world, especially the Palestinian Arabs, and expose Americans to attack, while causing disorders for these regimes.
It is even said that Israel’s subterranean contacts and quiet cooperation with certain Arab states, united by fear of a nuclear Iran, might be imperiled by the tumult such a move would cause on the Arab street. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has reportedly threatened to revoke its official recognition of Israel (which in reality it did not ever accept as Jewish state).
Indeed, PA President Mahmoud Abbas –– no stranger to urging violence over Jerusalem; just recall his September 2015 call upon Palestinians to violence to defend the Al Aqsa Mosque, which he falsely claimed was under assault from the Jews’ “filthy feet” –– has threatened that if the embassy is moved, “it will destroy the peace process.” READ MORE
