The Search for Peace in the Middle East

In September 2000, Ariel Sharon, head of the Likud Party in Israel and nemesis of Palestinians, paid a visit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, including the environs of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. That mosque is considered one of Islam's holiest sites (following Mecca and Medina). Muslims around the world were outraged by what they considered as a direct provocation, and an effort to desecrate or at least lay claim to their important shrine.
The Palestinians responded with what they had - stones on a good day, suicide bombers on tragic days. And the Israelis defended themselves with tanks, airplanes, and artillery. By the end of the uprising, it had a name - the Second Intifada. It also had a toll: an estimated 3,000 Palestinian lives, 1,000 Israeli lives, and 64 foreigners.

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Today, Donald Trump did his best to emulate Ariel Sharon's actions. His best was pretty weak, because Sharon actually was a proven warrior and commander of armed forces. Trump is, at best, a drive-by shooter. But in one of his drive-bys, he has taken a great leap toward the Third Intifada. There are few things the U.S. could do to add extra instability in the Middle East, but he did it today. By recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and pledging to move our embassy there, he has essentially shoved aside any claims the Palestinians may have had to parts of Jerusalem where they have lived for thousands of years.

Trump followed his announcement with what sounds like great words about the commitment to the peace process, and the dedication of the U.S. to finding a peaceful solution to the Israel / Palestine standoff. Early readings on the celebrations in Israel and the disturbances in Palestine would indicate that the people on the ground don't place high value on Trump's neutrality and commitment to peace.


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In 1969, I took a college course called "The Search for Peace in the Middle East". We took an in-depth look at the various claims, insults, frictions, historical complications, and religious misunderstandings that shaped the Levant at that time. Of course, the Palestinian issue was on the back burner at the time - The refugees were lodged in slums in Lebanon, and all the Arab / Palestinian participants assumed that a solution would be found that would allow them to return home. (They're still there - at least the ones that Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Army, and Christian Falangists didn't eradicate.) I've been following the trajectory of the situation since then. One thing that amazes me is that, even though there have been incremental steps forward in the last 50 years, nothing fundamental has changed.

Many, many people in the Middle East, Europe, and the U.S. have made a herculean effort to affect a real change in the relationships there. The successful efforts are named after places - Camp David, Oslo, etc. As a matter of fact, the unsuccessful points in history are named after places also - Munich, Beirut, and others. But despite the steps forward and the steps back, nothing has really changed. Jewish people in Israel are still locked in a to-the-death struggle with Palestinian Muslims over who owns the land, who has rights to various sites, who has freedom of travel, and who can develop economic institutions and business. Nothing has really fundamentally changed,

To compound the situation, various neighbors of Israel and Palestine have become less reliable, rather than more reliable, over the years. We can still count on Jordan; The Hashemite Kingdom has been on the road to peace since the first Arab failure to eradicate Israel. They are our strongest partner in the neighborhood, and in a quiet moment, the Israelis will admit to being comforted by their efforts.

Egypt, at one time the flag-bearer for Arab / Israeli cooperation, has become a less democratic and less stable regime over time. Their inability to control the Sinai has had a direct, negative effect on Israel, by giving a refuge to violent people who hate the very notion of Israel. Syria, of course, is not really even a country any more. The government that is left, centered in Damascus and propped up by the Russians, has enough problems of their own. That's good news and bad news: they aren't (probably) going to stir up trouble with Israel, but they also aren't going to do anything to help - like controlling the flow of arms from Iran to Hezbollah.

The Saudis also have problems of their own, in Yemen, the Wahhabis, and the Royal Palace. Kushner's and Trump's fawning over the Crown Prince will help, but it's likely to be a long time before the Saudis can truly engage in any peace process.


In the face of all this instability and chaos, Trump has chosen a path which can only add to the critical mass of outright human catastrophe. There can be no positive purpose served by his plan to move the embassy. Much like his tweets of hateful anti-Muslim #FakeNews, today's action can only be viewed as a provocation. We are isolated on this, without perhaps even Russian support. To their credit, they are trying to bring stability to region that knows almost none.

Despite his actions, Trump sounds the cry for peace, to be pursued aggressively. There is no real peace process right now because

• Israel insists on talks with no pre-conditions, which sounds pretty good
  
• The Palestinians insist that the talks include discussions of the settlements, which in Palestinian terms means "settlements are going away"
  
• Israel repeats that they will only enter discussion with no pre-conditions, which in Israeli-speak means "no, we aren't going to discuss settlements".
   

This leads us to a maintenance of the status quo, which serves every purpose of the Israelis and particularly the Zionists. They will continue to confiscate Palestinian land, and build new settlements, in the name of "security". They will consolidate those settlements behind "Israeli only, no Palestinians may cross" highways and walls. And they will continue to enjoy the patronage of the Trump regime, which even before they took office were trying to manipulate an anti-settlement vote in the U.N.

The lights got darker in the Middle East today. Nobody knows when they will get brighter again.