By Steven Jonas
As is widely known, President Trump recently declared
that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as the capitol of the State of
Israel and that he intends to move the U.S. Embassy there as soon as it is
feasible to do so. He also announced
that architects and engineers will be getting to work on the design. Since he does
try to make personal income out of his Presidency (see for example his golf
courses, his Mar-a-Lago Club, and his Washington hotel), one wonders if he will
be directing that the work be done a) by Trump-connected firms, b) how tall the
building will be, and c) if it will be named something like "The Trump
Embassy," or "The U.S. Embassy/Trump Tower."
(For a fuller discussion of what Trump has done and what it means see "Trump's Lethal Decision on Jerusalem ," retailing
a conversation between Prof. Francis Boyle, a long-time legal advisor to the Palestinian
Liberation Organization, and Dennis Bernstein, the host of "Flashpoints" on the
Pacifica Radio Network.)
At any rate, the move is weighed down in
symbolism. Among other things, it
indicates that the U.S. has in reality given up trying to be an "honest broker"
in the never-ending, on-again/off-again talks between the Israeli government
and the Palestinians. Of course, it has
always been known that the U.S. has never been a diplomatically fully neutral
party. But the appearances of that status
that successive U.S. governments have tried to maintain, even while providing
much maintenance for the Israeli Defense Force, will now largely be a thing of
the past. Which is just fine with
Trump's soul-mate, Bibi Netanyahu, his party Likud, and the small
ultra-"religious" right-wing parties on which Likud is dependent for staying in
power. Why?
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