Trump’s Jerusalem Move – A sign of desperation of American Imperialism
- Anand Singh
Despite the warnings from his allies in European Union and the Arab World, US president Donald Trump went ahead to declare the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital on 6th December 2017. Giving himself a pat on the back, Trump said that he is delivering a promise that no other US president could deliver. It is to be noted that in 19
95, US Congress had passed a ‘Jerusalem Embassy Act’, under which there was a provision that US Embassy in Israel would be moved to Jerusalem. However, realizing the serious implications, all the previous presidents had been avoiding taking this decision. Trump has taken this decision at a time when on the one hand Trump’s popularity is on the wane owing to his failures on domestic front, and on the other hand, the failure of US Imperialism to overthrow Assad Government in Syria and the growing influence of Russia-Iran-Syria-Hezbollah axis in entire Middle-East, which has dismayed the US Imperialist camp. In such a situation, the move of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is an expression of desperation of US Imperialism. In the wake of the serious implications of this decision, it becomes crucial to understand the causes behind it.
Controversy regarding Jerusalem: A Retrospection
It needs to be noted that the dispute regarding the status of Jerusalem has remained an important aspect of the Palestinian question ever since the birth of the state called Israel in 1948. Even in the United Nation’s plan in 1947, there was a provision to handover the administration of Jerusalem to a special international authority which was rejected by Arab countries. Just after the establishment of Israel in 1948, there was a situation of war between Israel and Arab countries for almost 10 months, after which, under the mediation of United Nations, a ceasefire agreement was signed, according to which Israel gained the rights over the western part of Jerusalem,while the eastern part was to be under the control of Jordan.
Bob Englehart, Cagle Cartoons
It needs to be noted that the followers of the three religions, namely, Islam, Judaism and Christianity, consider East Jerusalem as their holy land. It is in the older city in East Jerusalem where the ‘Haram-Al-Sharif’ mosque is located which is considered as one of the most sacred places by the Arabs. The Jewish people call this place as ‘Temple Mount’. The ‘Al Aqsa’ mosque is also located here, which is considered to be the third most sacred mosque in Islam. After the Arab-Israel war in 1967, even the eastern part of Jerusalem came under Israeli occupation. However, this occupation has still not got international recognition since according to the Geneva Convention, a territory occupied through war is considered to be militarily occupied. As recent as in December 2016, a resolution was passed in United Nations clearly stating that the Palestinian territory is under Israeli military occupation. The people of Palestine have a deep emotional attachment with Eastern Jerusalem, and they see it as the capital of the future independent and unified Palestine. In the wake of the disputed status of Jerusalem, both in the ‘Camp-David Accord’ in 1978 and ‘Oslo Accord’ in 1993, the decision regarding the status of Jerusalem was postponed for decisive negotiation in future. It is noteworthy that in the year 2000, the second intifada was triggered after the entry of the then Israeli opposition leader and former president Ariel Sharon into the ‘Temple Mount’ premises. It is also worth noting that in 1995, after passing the ‘Jerusalem Embassy Act’, US Congress again passed a bill in 2002 related to shifting the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and putting the name of Israel as the birthplace on the passports of Americans born in Jerusalem. However, even the hawkish American President George W. Bush could not put this into action. Before the current decision by Trump, the US’s official stand was that the status of Jerusalem should be decided through peaceful negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Hence this is indeed a big shift in the US foreign policy, after which all of its lofty claims of establishing peace in Middle East stands thoroughly exposed.
Reasons Behind Trump’s Decision
To understand the implications of and the reasons behind US decision of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, it is necessary to understand the rivalry between two imperialist axes — The axis of Arab countries and Israel under the American leadership and Iran-Syria-Hezbollah axis under the Russian leadership. It needs to be noted that US move to intervene in the Syrian civil war to overthrow Bashar Al Assad’s government appears to be backfiring. The Islamic State has turned out to be a Frankenstein that is now hell bent on devouring its own master. The main reason behind US’s strategic failure is the open intervention of Russian imperialism in support of Syria because of which the Assad government appears to be standing on its own feet again.
Apart from Syria, even in other West Asian countries, the influence of the Arab allies of the US is on the wane and Iran’s dominance in the region is on rise. In recent times Iran’s influence in Iraq and Yemen has increased because of which the relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran have beendeteriorating day by day. It is noteworthy that Saudi Arabia had executed a Shia religious leader last year and it broke its diplomatic ties with Iran. On the other hand, Iran backed Hezbollah’s control over Lebanon’s parliament and government and especially in the southern part of the country is increasing day by day. Recently Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri suddenly resigned while he was in Riyadh, during his visit toSaudi Arabia. According to Al-Hariri, his life was in danger as Hezbollah had created a state within the state and has held the entire country under hostage. He also said that Iran’s influence over the Arab affairsis increasing. The tension between Iran-Hezbollah and Arab nations further increased when Saudi Arabia and Bahrain called their citizens back from Lebanon.
Seeing the growing influence of Iran in Middle-East, the proximity between Israel and Saudi Arabia is also increasing. Saudi Arabia’s new crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman has given signs of strengthening its relationship with Israel. The new crown prince has a full backing of Trump administration. Recently Trump made a visit to Saudi Arabia and his flight flew straight from Riyadh to Tel Aviv which was unprecedented. Although, relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia have been growing strongerunder the American leadership since 1970s itself, however, unlike anyother presidents, Trump is articulating these relations more openly. Recently, Trump decided to throw the nuclear deal signed under Obama government into dustbin.
Trump’s decision regarding Jerusalem should be seen in light of these equations. Although, Trump boasted of his commitment to continue the peace process in Middle East in his speeches, this declaration in favor of Israel makes it as clear as broad daylight that US’s intentions are not to spread peace and stability in Middle East; rather it is to spread instability and unrest in the region so as to increase its intervention. Besides, amid his waning popularity in domestic politics, Trump, through this decision, is also trying to consolidate hisright wing and conservative social base. It is noteworthy that during his election campaign Trumphad promised the recognitionof Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Substantial numbers of conservative Christians in US have strong belief in the story in ‘Old Testament’ to be true. These evangelicals take the ‘End of days’ prophecy literally that after Jewish control over Jerusalem, there will be a war of civilizations, in which Jews will have to choose either Christianity or death. They also believe in the prophecy of ‘second coming of Christ’ and consider Israel’s control over Jerusalem as a sign of it. These conservative right wingers have welcomed Trump’s decision whole heartedly. One such person is Sheldon Adelson, a casino billionaire, who had also donated twenty million US dollars to Trump campain, and who used to lobby to shift US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Apart from this, Zionist lobbies like ‘American Israel Public Affairs Committee’ have been demanding the same for a long time.
The implications of Trump’s Jerusalem Move
Considering the geo-political equations in the Middle East, it is not difficult to understand that in the aftermath of Trump’s decision, theinstability and bloodshed will only increase in the already unstable region. After this declaration the widely talked about ‘two-state solution’ of the Palestine question has been rendered meaningless because the status of eastern Jerusalem was an important component of this solution. US reputation as an advocate of peace in this region was already a laughing stock for any serious observer, and now the open support to Israel via this declaration has ruined its remaining credibility and all its pretense of neutral mediator stands totally exposed. After becoming the president, Trump had given the responsibility of furthering the peace process in Middle East to his young and inexperienced son-in-law, Jared Kushner. According to reports, Kushner is working on a formula of an extremely limited sovereign Palestinian state. Recently, Trump administrationhad threatened to close down the office of Palestine Liberation Organization in Washington DC, which made it clear that America wants Palestinians to kneel down using threats and intimidation. Even if the Fatah faction, under the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas, accepts a limited Palestine state, the people of Palestine will not accept any such solution. Abbas’s popularity is on the wane anyhow and his social base is eroding due to his opportunism and the corruption prevalent in Palestinian authority. After Trump’s decision, even Abbas has lost all the grounds to convince the Palestinian people for any peace formula.
Arab rulers issued statements against Trump’s declaration and called an emergency meet of the Organization of Islamic Countries to oppose this decision and they passed a resolution to recognize eastern Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital. However, no country in the Arab world has mustered the courage to take a strong diplomatic action against US or Israel. In fact Bahrain government has given permission to a multi-religious delegation for a tour of Israel after this declaration.
Despite the lip-service of the rulers, the anger of the people of Arab world against the pro-American and pro-Israeli tilt exploded on the streets after Trump’s declaration. As was expected, people’s anger is being witnessed on the streets of the Arab world including Palestine. It is noteworthy that this anger was not only against US and Israel but also against the Arab rulers who instead of taking any strong action against Israel have gone ahead to increase their proximity with the Zionist regime.
On the question Jerusalem, so far India used to be in favor of the recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of an independent Palestinian state. The official statement of the Government of India that was released after Trump’s declaration did not reiterate its old stand. Clearly it is yet another evidence of the pro-Israeli tilt of the Indian rulers and their betrayal to Palestinian cause. And yet on December 11, 2017, India voted against the US decision to shift its embassy to Jerusalem along with 127 other countries leaving the US in total isolation. The reason for this might be the fact that a delegation of Arab diplomats met the Indian diplomats and it might have persuaded the Indian ruling class to vote against the US Jerusalem decision, if it wants to safeguard its economic interests in these Arab countries. However, this vote alone does not prove increasing tilt of India towards Israel since Modi’s rise to power. Indian ruling class is continuously weighing its options and at present it chose not to be in isolation with the US in the UN. This again shows that Indian bourgeoisie is not a comprador bourgeoisie but a ‘junior partner’ of Imperialism which likes to keep a variety of options open.
This desperate act of the Trump administration would only benefit the Iran-Syria-Hezbollah axis which is aligned with Russia, because it is likely to erode the social base of rulers of the Arab countries aligned with US even more. It would give opportunity to Iran to expose the betrayal of Arab rulers on the Palestine question and to highlight its own commitment to the cause. The desperation of US on account of the growing influence of Iran in the Middle-East was articulated during a press conference on 15 December in which US’s ambassador to UNO Nikki Haley charged Iran of supplying ballistic missiles to the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Haley called for an international coalition against Iran. Clearly, the growing influence of Iranian axis in the Middle-East is only going to enhance the desperation of the US which would lead to increase in it offensive causing devastation to the people of the region. But, at the same time, this will also result into the tornado of mass revolt and the valiant struggle of Palestinian people will gain more global solidarity owing to increasing internationalization of Palestine question.
- Published in Anvil-2, Jan-Mar 2018
