There is no shortage of controversial topics that arise in the international world of politics, however the main controversy remains the Palestinian-Israeli conflict which has recently reached a new height with US president Donald Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as well as his intentions of changing the location of the US embassy there from its current location in Tel Aviv. The transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem will put the United States in the hot seat with its Middle Eastern allies and possibly threaten the peace and its presence in the region.
After the Ottoman Empire collapsed, the regions that were under its control (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq) were divided between the two major powers at the time, France and Britain. France gained control of Syria and Lebanon while Britain gained control of Palestine. After many negotiations a promise, which was later named as the Sykes-Picot agreement, was given by France and Britain to the Israeli people in 1916 that they will be given a land to call their country . After Britain gained control of Palestine, it wasn’t long before they gave it to the Israelis to make it their home. Since then the Middle East has been a turmoil of controversy over the matter as many Arab leaders refused to succumb to the unfairness of seizing someone’s country and then giving it away to another. The Palestinians never considered Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, in fact they always considered it as their own, however the rest of the world decided to not give either side capital status until both side can come to an agreement on who owns what. Now that the United States has publicly made this declaration, it is threatening to cause an unrest in a region where for more than 70 years most countries have not taken part in the dispute of who is in control of the most important places there. This decision is causing unrest to the area and costing the United States many of its strong allies in the area as many of them believe that Jerusalem in the capital of Palestine not Israel. According to Reuters, there was a headline in one Lebanese newspaper that called president Trump out and it read “No offense Mr. President, Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine." Lebanon along with Syria always considered Israel to be their biggest enemy and they have gone head to head with Israel several times over the decades, they have been Palestines strongest allies as they still believe that the entire land is theirs and no part of it belongs to the Israelis. They have been fighting to get the Israelis out of Palestine and restore the land to its rightful residents. Even Saudi Arabia, one of the United States’s closest ally in the region, stated that the implementation of this decision before reaching an international consensus on the matter will have a great impact on the peace process as well as cause even more tensions in the region. The statement of the Saudi government couldn’t be more true since shortly after the declaration was made public, several signs of rising conflict started rising within the Palestinian/Israeli areas. The Palestinians were enraged the minute this announcement was made public and they took to the streets, where many riots occurred in the streets of Gaza with protestors burning tires and setting pictures of Trump on fire. There were several threats of an Intifada or uprising coming from Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist political organization that has been fighting Israel since its inception in 1987. Furthermore there were more rocket attacks than usual along with several attempts of suicide bombings. With all that has been happening several countries have come to agree that this decision will prevent the efforts that have been made towards the peace process to move forward, this is also costing the United States its credibility as a neutral and impartial mediator, a role which it has been playing for several decades. This became true when Saudi Arabia’s royal court displayed its disappointment with this decision by releasing a statement that read how Donald Trump’s actions “ exemplify a drastic regression in the efforts to move the peace process forward, and is a shift away from the United States' historically impartial position with regard to the issue of Jerusalem." The United States was meant to be a mediator between these two conflicting parties and by being the mediator it promises to stay impartial however by implementing its decision of transferring the embassy, it will be risking its position as mediator. This has become evident as many Palestinians are taking it as an act of bias. A Palestinian refugee in Lebanon said “ This is a conspiracy that is denying us our rights, the first of which is to return. They think we are a branch of thorns that they can step on and break. But we are a bomb, If they step on it, it explodes.” In order to be a mediator, the conflicting parties have to accept its authority however, the Palestinians have lost their confidence in the United States and they no longer recognize their authority in the conflict. After Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas publicly declared that the Palestinians will not accept the Unites States as a mediator, saying “We do not accept any role of the United States in the political process from now on, because it is completely biased towards Israel.” This is leading to the United States to lose its role as mediator in the conflict.
It is believed that the declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel will be making history as it will enhance the relationship with Israel, as well as help president Donald Trump in gaining more support from his people. When campaigning for the presidential election, Donald Trump put this idea on his platform and he ran on the premise that he will make it happen. There is precedent for this issue where several other US presidents such as Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton have claimed the legitimacy of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel however none of them acted upon it. If Donald Trump does declare Jerusalem as the capital and moves the embassy there, then the US will be the first one to do so since 1948. Doing this will prove that Trump is a man of his words and that he wasn’t just saying something to gain votes, he was saying it because he meant it. Furthermore, This move is about firmly fermenting the United States’ presence and relations with Israel. Israel has always been The US’s number one ally in the region and the US has always supported it, but this has strengthened our relationship with our allies and we have gotten outpouring support from the Israeli’s who got a reminder that the alliance they have with the United States remain strong.
This decision made by United States president Donald Trump has sparked more controversy and caused more harm than it did good. Many of the US’s biggest allies are turning against it, more conflict has risen in the are, and the US is about to lose its position and credibility as mediator. Perhaps this might have been the wrong time to make such a bold statement publicly, maybe Trump should have waited until the are was more stable to make such a bold move. Right now this is not in the best interest of the US government to act upon its word because it will cause even more instability than there already is.