Bizarre diplomacy

Bizarre diplomacy

Context

Trump’s decision on Jerusalem has no redeeming features. Instability in West Asia, which it will fuel, is bad news for India

A bad decision

• Trump has eliminated all prospects of an Israel-Palestine deal by recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
• No conditions: The decision is not conditioned on Israel stopping its programme of building settlements in occupied land. It does not call on Tel Aviv to take steps towards recognising the Palestinian state. Israel has not even been obligated to protect the rights of the approximately 100000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem who live beyond the city’s so-called “separation barrier”, cut off from city services

Anti-Muslim rhetoric

How does one make sense of this bizarre action?

• Inexperienced core team: Trump’s core Israel-Palestine team — Jason Greenblatt, David Friedman and son-in-law Jared Kushner — is remarkable for its lack of experience on West Asia
• Israel supporter and tycoon Sheldon Adelson, a darling of the United States far-right, has been amongst Trump’s biggest campaign donors
• Pandering to Israel’s policies: Facing heat from many United States Jews for his failure to condemn neo-Nazis, Trump may well see pandering to Israel’s policies as a way of winning their support
• In addition, the Christian right-wing sees freeing Jerusalem of Muslims as a religious imperative

Both sides suffer

Palestinians suffer under occupation; Israel, in turn, faces a volatile region and global isolation

• Unsustainable occupation: In the long term, moreover, Israel’s occupation is unsustainable; no nation-state can indefinitely maintain second-class status for half of those living in territories it rules

Pragmatic stand by India

New Delhi’s decision to avoid following the United States’ lead reflects well on Prime Minister diplomatic team: Instability in West Asia, which Trump’s action will fuel, is bad news for India. Pragmatism and ethics both converge in this case — and Trump’s action fails both tests