UNITED States President Donald Trump crossed the Rubicon when he declared Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Trump’s action is tantamount to declaring war on Muslim countries.
Not long after Trump’s move, the United Nations General Assembly voted 128 to nine on a resolution calling on countries not to locate their diplomatic missions in Jerusalem.
Angered by the resolution, Trump threatened to stop channelling funds to countries that had voted for the motion. Later, he withdrew financial aid to the Palestinians.
Trump is taking things too personally.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was given false hope when Trump promised during a bilateral meeting last September that: “I will devote everything within my heart and within my soul to get that deal made.”
In the meeting, Abbas had told Trump that peace could be achieved through the implemention of the two-state solution based on the 1967 borders.
Abbas said the illegal Israeli settlement policy posed a threat to the solution.
Trump’s action on Jerusalem has put paid to the peace effort.
The UN wants a two-state solution and so do the Arabs and the Palestinians.
International law also demands a two-state solution. We must ask why Trump is rejecting it?
It is clear that Israel and the Jewish lobby in the US do not want a two-state solution.
Trump, who is swayed by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, is inclined not to want peace.
Clearly, there will be no peace deal anymore. The Palestinians do not want the US as a mediator, and they have said this in no uncertain terms.
Trump has lost their trust. But, Trump must know that the more injustice is visited on the Palestinians by Israel and the US, the greater will the wrath of the Arabs and the Muslim world be.
Abang Affendi, Kuala Lumpur