Donald Trump is a different president as he carries out his campaign promises. He has recognized Jerusalem as the Capital Of Israel and announced that the US embassy will be shifted from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This is a revolutionary step. Earlier US presidents like Bush and Bill Clinton had promised much the same thing during their election campaigns but backtracked when elected to office. Trump has carried out what he had stated during the election trail and in the process delighted his supporters. He has reversed a decades-old US policy. Many news magazines from Islamic nations have, like Geo News of Pakistan, reported that the Muslim World is incensed and Turkey has called for an emergency session of OIC to discuss the decision of the US president.
Arab reaction
Trump had telephoned the Palestine President Mohammed Abbas about the decision before he made the announcement. The Muslim nations led by the Palestine Arabs have condemned the US decision. They have said that the peace process will be halted. The Arabs have not recognized the existence of Israel for the last 70 years and the threat that peace processes will be halted has really no meaning, as the peace process was not moving forward anyway.
CNN reported that Trump's decision has not found support even among the US allies and the UK and Germany among other nations have called for an emergency session of the Security Council to discuss the American decision. Small Islamic powers like Pakistan have condemned the US decision and have called it a grave provocation.
US decision
The US decision on the face of it may look bad, but Donald has only made good a Campaign Promise. The threat by the Islamic nations led by the Palestine Arabs, that the peace process will be halted has no meaning. The US had put on hold the decision to declare Jerusalem the capital for decades and yet the Arabs never went forward with any peace plan.
Hence the American decision will continue with the Status Quo as far as the peace plan is concerned.
Reality
Recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel will be acceptance of a hard reality as the city was the capital of the Jewish state two thousand years back. After 1948, the Arabs had vowed to destroy Israel but they failed on the battlefield and resorted to terrorist acts against civilians.
These terror attacks will continue, whether Trump had made the announcement or not.
In a way, Trump has called the Arab bluff and there is a possibility that a new chapter in the Middle East will open.
