Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Despite reports that an announcement could come as soon as Monday morning, January 23, 2017, The White House says it is still in the early stages of discussions:
The White House said on Sunday that it is only in the early stages of talks to fulfill President Donald Trump’s pledge to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, an action that would likely spark anger in the Arab world.“We are at the very beginning stages of even discussing this subject,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said in a statement. Aides said no announcement of an embassy move was imminent.
But as Trump’s inauguration approached, and now that he is President, there has been an escalating campaign by the Palestinian leadership which both incites violence behind the scenes and then uses that violence to warn of further violence should the move take place:
The key to the strategy is to falsely portray the Embassy move as an attack on Islam and to equate it with an attack on the al-Aqsa mosque. The internationalization of the dispute has been the singular Palestinian political focus since Israel’s independence.
Fatah Central Committee member Jibril Rajoub, a fairly notorious character, is adding to the escalation with an over-the-top attack on Trump and threats of violence.
Fatah Central Committee member Jibril Rajoub recently called U.S. President Trump’s plan to relocate the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem a “declaration of war” against the whole world and said “We want the confrontation to be between this new Fascist in the White House and the whole world – Christians as well as Muslims.” Speaking on the official Palestinian Authority TV channel on January 18, Rajoub called Trump a “lunatic” and asked: “Why does he think that he has the right to give them the keys …
By having escalated the threats, the Palestinian leadership may scare off Trump. If so, it would be a blow to Trump’s credibility given how prominent the Embassy promise has been.
If Trump follows through, the Palestinian leadership either has to deliver on its threats or lose its primary negotiating tool, the threat of violence.
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