"Saudi Arabia has reassured Arab allies it will not endorse any Middle East peace plan that fails to address Jerusalem’s status or refugees’ right of return, easing their concerns that the kingdom might back a nascent U.S. deal which aligns with Israel on key issues. " Reuters
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I published the following post on 3 January 2018: It is as true now as it was then that man does not live by bread alone.
"… we have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table. We pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don't even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with Israel," Trump tweeted. "We have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table, but Israel, for that, would have had to pay more. But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?" CNN quoting DJT
"We are not taking a position on any of the final status issues including the final boundaries of the Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem," Trump said last month as he made his Jerusalem announcement. "Those questions are up to the parties involved. The United States remains deeply committed to helping facilitate a peace agreement that is acceptable to both sides." Quoting DJT
Trump's statement at the announcement was intended to reassure Palestinians and the broader Arab and Muslim world that the US was not giving away control of Jerusalem to Israel or forsaking Palestinian claims to the holy city." CNN
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DJT's statements concerning the effect of his recognition of the Holy City as Israel's capital are nonsensical. The Israelis, the Palestinians, the Europeans and every Muslim in the world understand that by taking Jerusalem "off the table" DJT has effectively eliminated the possibility of a negotiation over the city that would in any way relate to the real world.
Evidently DJT thinks that an issue like this that concerns the essential identity and self image of millions and millions of Muslims can be handled as though the adversaries in this dispute are business people in a contract discussion. In that setting a feature of the proposed contract that cannot be agreed on is removed from consideration so that closure can occur on the rest.
Well, pilgrims, the ownership of Jerusalem is not a hotel or skyscraper deal. Trump's evident belief that the US has hired the Palestinian people through USAID projects and budget support is altogether incorrect. His belief that the Palestinians are effectively his employees and therefore must settle for a Bantustan created out of some part of what is left without Jerusalem is delusional.
The Israelis and other Zionists, like Kushner and Ivanka, have long held the Palestinians in contempt as inferior beings fit only to be cheap labor in the Israeli economy. That they could have sold that idea to Trump is the measure of the man. pl"
http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/02/politics/trump-palestinian-aid/index.html
