Reactions to President Trump’s Jerusalem speech where he acknowledged the factual status of the city as the capital of the Jewish State triggered mixed, yet mostly negative, emotions throughout the world. The president claimed that his move was conducive to peace between Israel and the Palestinians; his critics professed the opposite. Their main premise maintained that recognizing Jerusalem as the capital city of the Jewish State would alienate the Arab world; it would destroy the “Peace Process”, and it would do away with the US historical role as a neutral arbitrator who could bring the two sides to the table and forge a compromise.  

President Trump is right. His critics and the rest of the Arab world are confused and misguided.

The main reason peace between Israel and the Palestinians is unattainable now is rooted in the Palestinians’ conviction that Israel, all of it, must be uprooted from the holy land and replaced by a Palestinian State, containing a Muslim majority. Any talk about a “Peace Process” or an outcome comprising a two-state solution is calculated to serve as an intermediate step on the path toward this endgame. This is not a secret or a speculative theory. Many Palestinian officials have proclaimed this precise ploy, divulging their true intentions to their masses, while making it a central piece of their charter and ideology.

The main reason peace between Israel and the Palestinians is unattainable now is rooted in the Palestinians’ conviction that Israel, all of it, must be uprooted from the holy land and replaced by a Palestinian State, containing a Muslim majority.
70 years ago, President Truman recognized Israel as the Homeland of the Jewish people. It was then a more controversial pronouncement than President Trump’s decision to acknowledge reality. And this is the key. When truth and reality are recognized as facts, it smooths the progress toward smashing unrealistic hallucinations like wiping Israel off the map. Moreover, it facilitated the forging of peace between Israel and some of its arch enemies, like Egypt and Jordan, who had been parties to that infeasible fantasy. And it did so with the facilitation of a US president following the Yom Kippur war between Israel and Egypt where the US had taken a clear-cut position on the side of Israel. These historical events demonstrate that siding with Israel not only failed to prevent the US from becoming an arbitrator but, in fact, it facilitated and secured its status as the most qualified peacemaker.

Consequently, as long as the rest of the world refuses to recognize Jerusalem as the Jewish State’s capital city, it encourages the Palestinians’ pipedream of a Palestinian state from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, by reinforcing their false vision of uprooting the Jews from their historic capital; it supports the Palestinians’ refusal to compromise and participate in a real rather an imaginary peace process had there been one.

And Let’s face it. Who are we kidding when claiming that Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city is a fatal blow to the peace process. What peace process? Is there such a thing? And if there had ever been one, who dumped it?

There is no doubt in my mind that President Trump’s latest action concerning Jerusalem will bring to bear more legitimacy to the fact that Israel is a Jewish State with a Jewish history dating back to more than 3000 years. It also encourages other nations to fall in line, if not immediately, then over time. And once there is more of a critical mass of nations following Trump’s lead, the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular would be pressured to recognize the Jewish State as the Jewish State. When that acknowledgement takes place, the principal barrier to a final peaceful solution between Israel and the Palestinian would be removed, and the road to peace would be wide open.

Jews’ claim to Israel as their ancient homeland begins with their claim to Jerusalem as the central piece at the heart of that prerogative. Anyone who denies that connection is one step closer to rejecting the historical bond between the Jews and Jerusalem. On the other hand, recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish State is the key to accepting the fact that the Jews are here to stay, that Israel and Jerusalem as its capital are inseparable, and this acceptance is the first and most crucial step in moving toward a peaceful solution between Israel and the Palestinians.