When Donald trump made his announcement recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, it did not surprise the world. All through his election campaign, this was one of the major points that he repeatedly made. There was very little chance, that like Bush and Clinton, he would put the issue on the back burner after he was elected. Both the earlier presidents, Bush and Clinton had promised the same thing, during their election campaign, but once in power, they developed cold feet on the issue.
Trump has acted differently and he believes in carrying out his election promises. This puts him apart from the earlier presidents. Now that the decision is made the Times of Israel has reported that some more countries are considering following the American example and shifting their embassies to Jerusalem.
More countries to shift
The Israeli government has not named the countries planning to make the shift. CNN has reported that the Philippines and an unnamed state in Eastern Europe have indicated that they will follow the American lead. In addition, the Israeli government is hopeful that a few Christian countries from Africa will also move their embassies to Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has been building bridges with Christian nations of Africa and recently visited Kenya.
The Arab and most of the Muslim world are angry and many have remarked that the peace process will be stalled. The fact remains that even without declaring or recognizing Jerusalem as the Capital Of Israel, the peace process was at a standstill. This appears to be empty talk to put pressure on the United States.
Resultant violence
The American decision has brought a violent reaction from Hamas and the Palestine Arabs, but generally, nothing much has happened elsewhere. Sporadic acts of terror have taken place, but these have been going on for many decades. Today an Israeli policeman was stabbed by an Arab youth at the Bus terminus in Jerusalem.
The assailant was neutralized by the security guards, but overall the Arabs have not been able to rally the crowds.
Last word-Hamas failure
Even before Trump recognized Jerusalem, Hamas had twice called for an Intifada -a mass uprising against Israel. Both times the uprising failed and the result was that hundreds of Palestinian Arabs were killed.
Over a period of time, more countries could recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This is likely to give legitimacy to Trump's decision.