Moving to Jerusalem

For John, BLUF:  I am with Mr Lake.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Trump's Move Frees Palestinians to Focus on Peace, Not Jerusalem

The sub-headline:

Straight talk from the U.S. shouldn't be the end of peace talks, but the beginning.

From Bloomberg, by Reporter Eli Lake, 6 December 2017.

Here is the lede plus one:

A year ago, when Donald Trump's transition team first said they intended to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, I was skeptical.  Like most of the foreign policy establishment, not to mention America's Arab and European allies, I thought such a move was too risky.

You will see that argument a lot today. Israel needs U.S. help in strengthening its blossoming relationships with Arab states that were once its foes.  Why risk straining those ties with a largely symbolic move?

I have since changed my mind.  There are a few reasons. To start, that column came out right before the outgoing administration broke precedent and abstained from a U.N. Security Council resolution that said all of East Jerusalem was effectively occupied territory.  This would mean any Israeli construction within the disputed territory was a violation of international law.  Barack Obama's parting gift to the Palestinians made U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital more urgent.

But what really changed my mind was this summer's metal detector uprising.  Here's what happened: Israeli Arabs began a rampage near the mosque that sits atop the Temple Mount, an area that contains the remains of the outer wall of the Second Jewish Temple at its base and al-Aqsa Mosque on top.  The gunmen then fled into the esplanade around the mosque and began firing back at Israeli police officers from within the holy compound.

What happened next was both tragic and cynical.  While Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas condemned the terrorists, his political party, Fatah, also called for "days of rage." Was this in response to the gunmen at al-Aqsa?  No, it was because Israeli authorities sought to place metal detectors at al-Aqsa compound following a horrific shooting.  This was after Israeli police found weapons stored in the mosque compound.

An alternative view.  And given our apparent lock step approach from the establishment foreign policy crowd, we need alternative views.

Regards  —  Cliff