New York Times
Violence shakes Trump’s “new Middle East” pride
Washington — That was President Donald Trump’s declaration in September as a “new dawn in the Middle East.” In a statement at the White House, Trump announced new diplomatic agreements between Israel and two of its Gulf Arab countries, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. “After decades of division and conflict, the Abraham Accord was surrounded by regional leaders in a scene later replayed in a campaign ad, laying a” foundation for comprehensive peace throughout the region, “Trump said. He said. Sign up for the morning newsletter from The New York Times. Eight months later, such peace remains a distant hope, especially for the most famous intractable conflict in the Middle East, the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. In a fierce scene reminiscent of the former Middle East, the conflict has entered the bloodiest stage of seven years, and as President Joe Biden faces the role the United States should play, Trump’s questioning the future of the deal. Renewed criticism of the approach. I’m in this area right now. Trump’s approach was essentially to ease the tensions between Israel and the Palestinians and avoid the challenge of promoting closer ties between Israel and some Sunni Arab countries. The agreement he assisted in the negotiations is widely seen as showing a diminished interest in some of Israel’s Arab neighbors in supporting Palestinians, and Israeli and Palestinian tensions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Gave more freedom to pursue strategies to further strengthen. Zaha Hassan, a visiting researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, who specializes in Palestinian issues, said: Professor Valinasul of the Johns Hopkins Graduate School of Advanced International Studies rewarded Netanyahu’s hard-line approach to supporting Israeli settlement and other vast activities, based on the idea that the Palestinian issue was dead. Said. Territorial claims. “This was proof of his theory that you can have land and peace,” Nasr said. Former Trump officials say the former president of the hyperbola requested the Abraham Accord, which later expanded to include Morocco and Sudan, but was not seen as a means of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. On the contrary, the agreement that expanded trade between Israel and the four Arab countries and partially or completely normalized diplomatic relations instead said that Palestinian causes no longer defined regional relations. He blamed the Palestinians for demonstrating. Indignant at Palestinian leadership, Sunni Arab rulers, who had been quietly working with Israel for years against Shiite Iran, were moving forward. Jason Greenblatt, who served as Trump’s Middle East envoy until October 2019, said the current ripples of violence in and around Israel “emphasize why the Abraham Accords are so important to the region.” Insisted. According to Greenblatt, Palestinian leaders have completely rejected the January 2020 Trump Peace Program, which proposes the creation of a Palestinian state, on conditions that are heavily inclined to Israeli demands, and then the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Was deliberately “separated” from the relationship between Israel and the Arab world. They “deprived Palestinians of veto power to move the region forward,” he added. Others said the UAE had drawn a pledge from Netanyahu to postpone the possibility of annexation of Swath on the West Bank before agreeing to the agreement. This was a move that could cause a major uprising in Palestine. (Trump authorities also opposed such annexation, and Netanyahu may not have followed up regardless.) Former Middle East peace negotiator Dennis Ross, who served under the three presidents, made the agreement important to the region. Called a step, said violence in the city of Israel and Gaza explained that “the Palestinian issue can still cast clouds” on the relationship between Israel and its neighbors in Arab. “The idea that this is’peace of our time’clearly ignored one existential conflict in the region. It wasn’t between Israel and the Arab nations, “Ross said. Most analysts say the deal, endorsed by Biden administration officials and wants to expand to include more countries, can survive the current violence. After all, officials involved in the development of the agreement say no one was under the illusion that such a conflict was a thing of the past. However, Israeli police crackdowns on Arabs in Jerusalem and images of airstrikes overthrowing skyscrapers in Gaza are clearly causing tension. In a statement this month, the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced “strong condemnation” of Israel’s proposed expulsion in East Jerusalem and police attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Last month, the UAE accused “violence committed by right-wing militant groups in occupied East Jerusalem,” saying the region “may fall into a new level of instability in a peace-threatening manner.” I warned. Bahrain and other Gulf nations have accused Israel in a similar tone. A Friday statement by the United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan called on Israel as well as “all political parties” to exercise restraints and pursue a ceasefire. A former Trump official argued that public pressure on Israel by countries such as the UAE and Bahrain was more important after the agreement, as it came from a new official diplomatic partner. However, none of the governments involved in the agreement played a major role in efforts to ensure a ceasefire — responsibilities previously assumed by Egypt and Qatar. “It is the non-Abraham Accord Arabs who really play a central role in ending this great fire,” said Aaron David Miller, a former adviser to the Israeli Arab affairs under the six Secretaries of State. I did. At an event hosted by the Israeli embassy in Washington last month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration “welcomes and supports” the Abraham Accords, “the Israeli friend group will grow further over the next year. I’m hoping to do it, “he added. But since then, dozens have been killed, hundreds have been injured, and most of them are Palestinians, analysts say, with the prospect of other Arab countries joining the deal appearing bleak. I will. “I think it’s very unlikely that anyone else will join the agreement,” Nasr said. “It will lose much of its momentum and energy.” One country considered a potential candidate, Saudi Arabia, recently issued some of Israel’s most powerful accusations. A statement from the Saudi Foreign Ministry called on the international community to “take responsibility for this escalation in the occupation of Israel and immediately stop escalation actions that violate all international norms and laws.” Some analysts and Biden administration officials say the deal was the culmination of four years of Trump policy that embraced and empowered Netanyahu and isolated Palestinians. Trump’s approach almost suffocated hopes for a negotiated two-state solution pursued by some former U.S. presidents and balanced the balance of power from official Palestinian leaders to Hamas extremists in Gaza. They said. Former Obama administration official Iran Goldenberg admitted that Israel had also clashed with Palestinians under the Democratic administration, who took a more equitable approach to conflict than Trump’s pro-Israel position. He said Hamas’s optimistic missile attack on Israel after the eruption of Jewish and Arab violence in Jerusalem was not Trump’s fault. However, Goldenberg argues that the current civil war in Israel, including the Israeli Settlement movement, is “at least partially driven by the fact that the Trump administration has supported Israeli radical elements at all stages.” did. For example, in November 2019, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo changed long-standing US policy by declaring that the United States did not consider Israeli settlements on the West Bank to be a violation of international law. (The Biden administration intends to reverse its position once the review by government lawyers is complete.) Trump also moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, officially recognizing it as the capital of Israel, and long hopes for the east. Infuriated the Palestinians who were doing it. Jerusalem will be the capital of the future nation they will establish. “Trump has opened the door for Israel to accelerate the destruction of homes and accelerate reconciliation efforts,” Hassan said. “And when it happens and you see Israel acting on it, it’s when you see Palestinian resistance.” Former Trump officials said during Trump’s term, especially the relocation of the embassy. Experts’ predictions about the later Palestinian eruption never came true, noting that Byden’s more friendly approach to Palestinians, including the restoration of humanitarian aid canceled by Trump, made them bold. Challenge the suggesting Israel. Even some Trump administration officials said the proposal that the deal was equivalent to peace in the Middle East was exaggerated. “While in the White House, I always encouraged people not to use the term,” Greenblatt said. This article was originally published in The New York Times. © 2021 The New York Times Company