Posted on 12/06/2017 3:48:46 AM PST by DoodleDawg
Just hours before President Trump's highly anticipated speech on Jerusalem, the White House is engaged in damage control. The challenge Trump and his team are facing: how to fulfill his campaign promise of moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and still get a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians — and prevent a wave a violence across the West Bank and the Middle East.
Between the lines: White House officials think Trump's decision to follow through on his campaign promise — even if only partially — strengthens his credibility around the world as a someone who stands by his word, isn't intimidated by threats, and doesn't cave to international pressure.
What we're hearing: Trump believes that even if other world leaders don't like the decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and start the process of moving the U.S. embassy to the city, they will nevertheless respect him for doing what he said he would do.
As a senior administration official told me: "The president will reiterate in his speech how committed he is to peace. While we understand how some parties might react, we are still working on our plan which is not yet ready. We have time to get it right and see how people feel after this news is processed over the next period of time."
Trump's peace team – mainly senior adviser Jared Kushner and special envoy Jason Greenblatt — supported Trump's decision. The peace plan Kushner and Greenblatt are working on is still in the making, and is expected to be presented in the next few months.
Behind the scenes: Trump's peace team sees the current crisis with the Palestinians as a bump in the road. The White House expected the Palestinians to get mad at Trump's decision, and also expected the angry statements by Arab governments. Kushner and Greenblatt are planning to put their heads down for a while, keep working quietly on the peace plan and wait for the dust to settle in order to make a renewed push.
Notable: The Trump speech will have something for the Palestinians too. A senior administration official said Trump will say for the first time since he won the Oval Office that he is prepared to support a two-state solution if both Israelis and Palestinians agree to it.
Why it's a big deal:
A statement by Trump in support of a two-state solution was one of the main demands the Palestinians made in the last few months. By saying that, Trump will align himself with his three predecessors — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. The Trump peace team sees this part of the president's speech as something that can contribute to the re-launch of peace talks. What to watch: The White House is concerned about possible escalation of tensions as a result of Trump's decision, but hopes the president's good relations with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan will help in calming down the situation as soon as possible.
Senior U.S. officials said Trump asked King Salman of Saudi Arabia, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and Jordan's King Abdullah II to help in lobbying the Palestinians to refrain from violence and return to peace talks. This might not be that easy. Israeli officials say the Israel Defense Forces and Shin-Bet see riots and escalating violence as a likely scenario and are getting prepared.
Be smart: Trump's decision on the embassy will fulfill his campaign promise only symbolically. On the ground, not much is going to change. The planning and building of a new embassy might take at least three to four years, according to senior U.S. officials.
Until then, Trump will continue to sign waivers to delay the move once every six months — as the previous presidents did — and the U.S. embassy will stay at its current location on the golden beaches of Tel Aviv. If Trump wants to inaugurate the new embassy, he will probably have to win a second term in office first.
I think the deal with the Palestinians may be a little different.
Agree to a peace plan or I’ll move the US embassy.
And you think that’ll work, huh?
If the Peace Process will never result in peace, why do we bother?
The PA desperately needs this President to fall into the narcissistic delusion that he can fix the Middle East. This embassy move is a strong signal that Trump is not going to fall into that trap.
The embassy in Tel Aviv was not achieving peace; we’re no closer than ever. So, perhaps changing the equation will jiggle things. Perhaps the palies, that rejected peace time and time again with a Tel Aviv embassy, will be less recalcitrant with a more hard lined approach from Jerusalem.
To paraphrase John Derbyshire: "this is our way of saying that the BSD is now driving the bus..."
(Big Swinging D***)
Good question.
I'll play the straight man here: What peace plan?
If the administration really thinks this then they're kidding themselves.
It says right here that no one hired by Trump since November 8, 2016 thinks this.
The photo is the perfect illustration of why there is no peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The poster reads, “Move the embassy to your own country, not ours.” If the Palestinians view Israel as their country, or Jerusalem as theirs, then any solution that leaves Israel intact is a non-starter. Israel has repeatedly offered to share when they could have the whole pie through might of arms. It is the Palestinians that, not only refuse to coexist, but want every part of Israel erased...with preferably all Israelis murdered in the most painful ways.
The fact that America has not yet moved its embassy signals to the Palestinians that if they only hold out a little longer they can have everything they want. In order to have peace, one side must “lose.” If that side is Israel we will see a holocaust unlike any in history. If the losers are the Palestinians they will be able to live in peace with peaceful, law abiding neighbors who will help them flourish. So, we have to ask ourselves, who would we like to see “win?”
Actually, it seems that if the Palestinians lose, they really win bigtime.
All of the talks notwithstanding, there has never been a viable peace plan. If that was the real desire of the Palestinians, they would have had peace eons ago.
So just move the embassy and ignore the predictable ululations from the left.
If Trump is doing this in part to placate his constituency then how can the Palestinian leaders accept it without completely alienating their own? Their constituency will kill them.
Good question. The administration apparently thinks there is one, all evidence to the contrary not withstanding.
That's not how I'm reading it. It's saying that nobody in the current administration thinks it will kill the peace process. About nobody outside the administration agrees with them however.
“....and prevent a wave a violence across the West Bank and the Middle East.”
We will have violence from the Palestinians as long as Israel exists.
When the only tool in your bag is violence, that is the tool you use for everything.
Jerusalem is the Israeli capital and the only way it remains free for all religions.
The only thing that will change is the media will suddenly report every muslim terror attack and put the blame on Trump.
One can predict the coverage: “what do you have to say to President Trump now that your loved ones are dead at the hands of Muslims because of Jerusalem?”
If he's going to move it then move it. But don't pretend there is any hope of a settlement anymore. The Israelis and the Palestinians will have to live with the situation. We're best out of it.
Yes, that’s right. The Palis have never been interested in peace. There is no peace plan. Move the embassy as at least 3 admins have promised.
There is no peace plan.
Peace isn’t a process.
The “”pali” side wants the Jews dead.
L
Regardless what you do, or if you do nothing, that is radicals reasoning and justification to kill all infidels exactly like the Koran orders them to.
“Their constituency will kill them.“
And the problem is?
L
Peace plans have been futile for many decades now. A waste of time. The Arabs don’t want peace; they want all of the territory. This is an imperative of Islam. Recognizing the reality of Jerusalem as the capital of the Israelis is the correct thing to do. The Arabs and the Europeans will bluster and wail for a while. Then they will get used to it and move on.
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