Daily Alert Archives

The Trump Administration: A Turning Point in Middle East Policy?

(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Dore Gold - The inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 45th president of the United States is likely to lead to a major transformation of U.S. Middle East policy. Many of the assumptions that accompanied the years of President Barack Obama will no longer be held by American policymakers. But equally important, many elements that had in the past been fundamentals of U.S. policy, and had been forgotten and had not been part of the repertoire of the White House in the last eight years, could be reintroduced. The first element involves Israel's future border. Ever since 1967 when Israel captured the West Bank in the Six-Day War, the question of Israel's future borders was governed by UN Security Council Resolution 242, which talks about an Israeli withdrawal from territories - not all the territories - to secure and recognized boundaries. Now some people think that's being very picayune with the language. But in fact the decision on the language of 242 was decided at the highest levels of the U.S. government, by President Lyndon Baines Johnson himself. And that language was preserved by successive U.S. presidents and secretaries of state. For example, the Reagan administration in 1988, through its Secretary of State George Shultz, talked about the fact that Israel would never negotiate from or return to the 1967 borders. During the Clinton administration in 1997, Secretary of State Warren Christopher, in a letter to Israel, spoke about Israel getting "defensible borders," and that idea was enshrined in 2004 by President George W. Bush in a letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that was approved by both houses of Congress. Unfortunately, over the last eight years, Israel's recognized rights have been eroded, culminating in the most recent UN resolution on December 23, 2016 - on which the U.S. abstained - which made constant reference to the 1967 lines as its primary point of reference. Dr. Dore Gold, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, is a former Israeli UN ambassador and director-general of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
2017-01-20 00:00:00
Full Article