TRUMP AGENDA - Israel

IMHO:  I have a philosophy that 'friends don't let friends drive drunk' taken from MADD and applied to the Israel-Palestinian issue.  Israel's policy and actions in regard to Palestine will NOT end the world's longest war.  Israel is 'drunk' on religious doctrine, and if the USA is truly a friend we should not be enablers to their drunkenness.

This issue can ONLY be ended when the PEOPLE of both Israel and Palestine tell their respective governments to STOP.

"Will Trump's affinity for Israel translate into new policy?" PBS NewsHour 2/14/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  President Trump talked during his campaign of moving the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, seeming to favor Israel in his policy stances.  But more recent comments suggest the administration could be more in line with long-standing American policy based on the two-state solution.  What's ahead for Mideast policy?  Special correspondent Martin Seemungal reports from Jerusalem.

MARTIN SEEMUNGAL, special correspondent:  Jerusalem's Old City is defined by divisions, four quarters, Armenian, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish, a legacy of conquests and occupations dating back thousands of years.

Israeli soldiers captured East Jerusalem and the Old City from Jordan in the Six-Day War of 1967.  Today, Israeli soldiers still control the streets of the Old City and the thousands of Palestinians who live here.  It is a tense, often volatile place.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:  I love Israel.  I love Israel.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

MARTIN SEEMUNGAL:  Enter Donald Trump:

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:  We will move the American Embassy.

MARTIN SEEMUNGAL:  Promising to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem during his campaign.

Jerusalem's mayor, Nir Barkat, welcomes the news with open enthusiasm.

His vice mayor, Yitzhak Pindrus, says it is long overdue.

YITZHAK PINDRUS, Vice Mayor of Jerusalem:  Jerusalem is the capital, capital of Israel, the capital of the Jewish nation.  It was that for thousands of years.  It's not something that's going to change.  And I'm comfortable with that, and I would be very happy if the embassy will move here.

MARTIN SEEMUNGAL:  No nation on Earth officially recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.  To understand why, you have to go back beyond the '67 war.

The United Nations' 1947 partition created Jewish and Arab states, putting Jerusalem under international control.  Israel captured a large part of Jerusalem in 1948, and divided Israeli West Jerusalem from a Palestinian East Jerusalem with a Green Line.

Despite declaring West Jerusalem as its capital, no country moved embassies there.  This is the old Green Line that split Jerusalem in two.  Israel annexed the eastern side of the city in the 1980s, illegally, according to international law.  And ever since, it's been trying to erase that sense of division.  But the reality remains West Jerusalem is predominately Jewish, East Jerusalem is predominantly Muslim.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state.  And Donald Trump's promise to move the embassy to Jerusalem has angered Palestinians.

Hanan Ashrawi is a senior member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

HANAN ASHRAWI, Palestinian Liberation Organization:  This is an irresponsible and dangerous move.  Don't even think about it, because you will be inflaming feelings.  You will be turning this into a religious conflict.  You will be starting a whole new cycle of violence.  The U.S. will be seen as complicit.