The Palestinians, who clearly should have a state if they can give up dreams of killing the Jews, now have a deadline to reach a deal with Israel. Will the Palestinian rulers who benefit from the current stalemate reach that deal?
I'd be persuadable that I should be outraged at President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital if the withholding of that status for so many decades had prodded the Palestinians to be anything but mind-boggling stupid and violent in negotiating a real peace treaty with Israel.
Instead the Palestinians sow violence in Gaza, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen; managed to support Saddam Hussein when he invaded and annexed Kuwait in 1990; and are basically an Iranian proxy force.
Perhaps the realization that Palestinian prospects can get worse if they don't seriously talk about compromise rather than hoping somehow Israel will be destroyed can move the region closer to peace. Withholding recognition of the capital certainly hasn't helped.
Oh, and how does threatening violence with "days of rage" over this decision help the reputation of the Moslem world for peaceful coexistence and the potential of peace? The decades of rage have existed with our embassy in Tel Aviv. Not much change in the rage issue will take place after this decision, in the long run.
But yes, added security for our embassies that could experience spontaneous rage like Benghazi on September 11, 2012 would be wise. This type of mobile platform to house and deploy reinforcements would be nice, no?
And how can liberals here rage when the U.S. Senate voted 90-0 in the summer to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital? To be clear, no Democrat (or anyone) voted against the measure and a lot had to vote for it even if you assume a unanimous Republican vote for it.
The Israelis owe us big time for this decision. I wonder what Trump got for it? I assume there was a deal. After all, the Israel-Palestinian issue is basically a real estate question, is it not?
Remember that the actual embassy move will take years to take place. If the Palestinians come to their senses over the next several years and reach a real peace deal with Israel that cuts ties to Iran and terrorists rather than hoping one day to kill the Jews and drive them into the sea, the physical move can be cancelled.
Or it won't matter because even the Palestinians will establish their embassy there.
And the Israelis have to know that failure to reach a deal with the Palestinians in the same time frame could lead to delays in actually moving the embassy--delays as indefinite as the until-now refusal to order the move.
There are a lot of unknowns. But catering to the Palestinians over this issue hasn't worked to achieve peace.
UPDATE: Iran's reaction is laughable:
Iran "will not tolerate a violation of Islamic sanctities," he said in reference to Trump's Jerusalem announcement.
Iran killed a couple hundred thousand Iraqi troops with repeated offensives named "Jerusalem" during the Iran-Iraq War, clothing their attacks behind the claim that Iranian forces were only trying to get at Israel though Iraq. Hah.
Iran has always been willing to fight Israel to the last Arab, truth be told.
UPDATE: It is interesting that we could have shifted almost immediately to Jerusalem by changing the name of our large consulate in Jerusalem.
Almost nothing of substance has changed as of today. Will violent rage really be the normal response to this decision?
UPDATE: How dare Trump disrupt a five-decade "peace process" that was humming along just fine without his intrusion, thank you very much!
