This week’s postings@JfJfP.com

There is no need to report what the dominant issue is this last week, December 4th-10th, 2017.  In fact this summary is shorter than usual because it’s been quite hard to find any sort of commentary or analysis which is not to do with the Trump’s decision to proclaim Jerusalem the capital of Israel. (Does he mean the whole of Jerusalem?)

He had no need to. It was an unprovoked act of ‘diplomatic vandalism’ and ‘senseless provocation’ in the view of the Financial Times. In the same six-piece posting we learn from Ynet that his proclamation was cooked up with PM Netanyahu over three phone calls. Sounds like a conspiracy:
I’m not listening, I’ll do what I want says Trump

In fact the Pres. did listen to a few voices of praise and encouragement: the apocalyptic American Christians and the American Jewish zealots such as Sheldon Adelson and other wealthy right-wingers. How gratifying to be the man anointed (Messiah means the anointed one) to deliver Jerusalem not so much to Israel but to this home crowd:
Votes at home trump MidEast peace

And though Arab and Muslim leaders warned, in Erdogan’s words that:
Move to Jerusalem “crosses red line”

why would this bother a man who fancies himself as a buster of old shibboleths and other such niceties?

Still in his messianic role, Trump says he is bringing the truth to the people – that Jerusalem IS the capital of Israel. Here, Robert Cohen agrees. Jerusalem has been functioning as Israel’s capital for all except every other country which keeps its embassy in Tel Aviv (which the US still does). Britain’s Jewish establishment has been quick to laud Trump as though having an actual Jewish state, HQ the Holy City was our destiny. So, Cohen asks,  “Were the last 2,000 years of Jewish history really just an aberration, a detour from our true national story? Or has it been our ‘Exile’ and dispersal that’s actually made us who we are?”:
Trump’s truth

In reality, most Jews with an interest in the MidEast also think the Proclamation was folly, if not hubris. Although Netanyahu and Trump plotted to bring it about their first aims are different. If the president can’t be the messiah he wants to be a famous iconoclast. Netanyahu wants to deal a lethal blow to Palestinian nationalism. Faced with either of those, inertia and stalemate seem preferable:
‘Proclamation’ worries and baffles most Jews

The most frequent argument put forward against Trump’s premature proclamation is that it damages the negotiation for a 2-state solution. What negotiation? What country in the world has acted on the international consensus that Israel’s expansion and its settlements on Palestinian land are illegal? Raja Shehadeh, lawyer and a founder of Al Haq (the truth), writes that the US never acted on its pre-Trump position that the Occupation was illegal. Its real position was demonstrated in the humongous sums it bestowed on Israel for its military infrastructure:
US throws away any role it had for furthering peace

All commentators agree with this. Although previous American presidents have thought that enhancing peace negotiations went with the job – and many Palestinians hoped it would – there is now no chance of that. Is this a blessing in disguise?

Ironically, this week has also seen a continuation of reports on the growing gulf between Israel and American Jews. Unlike thier parents and grandparents many no longer feel an obligation to support poor little Israel. Now it’s right-wing, Orthodox, militaristic, aiming for hegemony Israel. Jonathan Cook and Judy Maltz both comment:
The US-Israel chasm

If this feeling produces results it’s bad news for the Israeli right wing. Netanyahu acts as though the USA is the dog wagged by the Israeli tail; whatever the tail wants, it can get. If any other nation spent as much time and money trying to manipulate American politics it would be a scandal. But it’s normal for America. Philip Weiss deplores the meddling especially given the wrongness of Israel’s approach to its region:
Bibi, compulsive meddler in US affairs

Egypt’s intervention in Palestinian affairs is largely welcomed. It’s seen as being able to bring Hamas to heel and hold the trust of both Israelis and Palestinians. But although Israeli security insist Hamas is responsible for all violent action in Gaza it also knows perfectly well that Salafists are the perpetrators of much of the violence:
Who will guard the Gaza guards?

And who will guard the South Hebron hills from aggressive Jewish settlers? Ta’ayush (Arabic for “living together”),”a grassroots movement of Arabs and Jews working to break down the walls of racism and segregation by constructing a true Arab-Jewish partnership” and David Shulman. Here he recounts how, although the Palestinian shepherds have won a High Court ruling on their right to roam freely in the area, Israeli soldiers refuse to read, or to acknowledge, the ruling and continue forcing shepherds out:
Young soldiers with heads turned by power

A mass protest against government corruption is included in
NIBS.9: Israelis protest against corruption
along with other short news items.

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