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Standing Up to Palestinian Blackmail on Jerusalem

(Ha'aretz) Elliott Abrams - President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is absolutely the right decision because Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. The anomaly is that U.S. recognition of this has not happened until this week due to the fear that Arab states and Palestinians would object. Lies and evasions make peace impossible. Telling the truth brings it closer. Trump is not destroying his own peace efforts but grounding them in reality. And he has reacted to Arab and Palestinian predictions of violence with the contempt they deserve. Those "predictions" were in fact threats, and the President was absolutely right to face them down. This decision advances peace because it tells Palestinians and Arab governments to respect reality. In any peace talks there will be no discussion of moving the Knesset or the prime minister's office to Tel Aviv. The refusal to acknowledge Jerusalem as Israel's capital is part of refusing full and normal legitimacy to the Jewish state. It makes Israel uniquely disadvantaged among nations, giving a sense of impermanence. The writer, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, handled Middle East affairs at the U.S. National Security Council from 2001 to 2009.
2017-12-07 00:00:00
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