Trump’s first overseas debut amid fears, aspirations

CAIRO – 16 May 2017: An epicenter of controversy was sparked following the announcement of U.S. President Donald Trump’s first overseas debut since he took office last January.

The announcement took place May 4 in the Rose Garden, at ceremony marking the National Day of Prayer.

Trump announced that he will visit Israel on May 22; a visit that is expected to be followed by another to Bethlehem in the West Bank, where he will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The visit draws various expectations and reactions towards it; these expectations are mainly related to the vital role it will play in introducing the new administration's strategy regarding foreign issues, including the Middle East and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Following the visit, Trump will be marked as the first U.S. president to visit the Israeli state during his first months in office, a move that former president Barack Obama skipped, disappointing the Jewish state and its supporters.

Obama was at a short distance from Israel when he visited Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in the first months of his administration, but did not go to Israel until 2013.

The anticipated visit of Trump to Israel and Palestine is surrounded with fears and concerns among Palestinians including the Palestinian leadership.

Palestinians became anxious about Trump’s statements during his election campaign and after his election, as Trump did not overlook any opportunity to confirm his full support to Israel in all forms. He actually adopted the position of the Israeli government in sensitive issues including the settlements and Jerusalem.

Since Trump’s election, he did not take any concrete steps in the direction of ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Unlike previous U.S. administrations, he did not condemn the construction of settlements in the West Bank or occupied Jerusalem.

Sean Michael Spicer, the White House Press Secretary said in a statement in February, “While the White House does not believe settlements were an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or expansion of existing settlements may not be helpful in achieving that goal.”

Trump used Jerusalem as one of his election propaganda’s cards. Over the course of his campaign, he repeatedly promised to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to relocate the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. These statements drew fierce reactions among Palestinians and Arabs as it would be interpreted as an American recognition of Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem. It represents a green light for Israel to extend its sovereignty over Jerusalem and its holy places including Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Earlier this year, Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Ron DeSantis, held a fact-finding trip to assess possible locations for the embassy in Jerusalem.

While Trump wants to urge the Arab states to play a larger role in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, the embassy's move might work against that objective. This move might lead to an outbreak of a third intifada (uprising) in Palestine and public demonstrations in unpredictable the Arab and Islamic region.

Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian official and former foreign minister said in a televised interview, “Moving the embassy is the same as recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. It’s a war crime, and there’s no way the Arab world would accept it. It would mean the end of the US as the broker of the peace process.”

Since Trump’s election and after meeting with several Arab leaders including Mahmoud Abbas, Trump said he would like to see the move take place eventually without mentioning the exact period for doing so.
In an interview with Fox News Trump said, “I don't want to talk about it yet. It's too early.”

The status of Jerusalem is one of the pressure points in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinians consider east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, while Israel proclaims the entire city as its capital.

On October 23, 1995, the U.S. Congress signed the Jerusalem Embassy Act. The Act names Jerusalem as the proper place for the U.S. Embassy and requiring the embassy to be moved from Tel Aviv by May 1999 at the latest. Since then, every president has signed a security waiver every six months to prevent the move.

The renewal of the waiver on the Jerusalem Embassy Act is expected to take place by the end of June. Until this moment, there is conflicting information on whether Trump will actually move the embassy to Jerusalem despite the continuous Israeli claims that Trump will announce the move during his visit to Israel on May 22.

In March 2017, the Arab League foreign ministers adopted a resolution against any attempt to move any diplomatic missions to Jerusalem. This resolution came in response to Trump’s presidential campaign pledge to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem.

The league’s resolution "considers setting up any diplomatic mission in Jerusalem or moving it to the city an explicit attack on the rights of the Palestinian people and all Muslims and Christians."

The League's resolution requested Arab League missions to follow up and monitor any move that violates the Security Council resolutions and international law regarding moving diplomatic missions to Jerusalem. Furthermore, the Arab Group in New York was asked to study effective measures to counter any such move through the United Nations, including the Security Council.

Raised observations on Trump's visit to Bethlehem continue. Trump did not mention a visit to Palestine in the White House statement announcing Israel's visit. In a step that shows that Trump is afraid of the Israeli reaction, which will consider his visit to Ramallah as implicit recognition of a future Palestinian state.

Furthermore, Trump selected Bethlehem for his visit to Palestine. Despite the fact that this visit to Bethlehem confirms that it is a purely Palestinian land like Ramallah, it also raises the question why he chose Bethlehem, not Ramallah.

Ramallah represents the capital of the Palestinian leadership through the presence of the Palestinian National Authority buildings, the government, the headquarters, institutions of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and Fatah decision center.

Despite Abbas’ visit to the White House, the United States did not provide full support for the Palestinian position. Trump is still conservative about the Palestinian position and his visit to Bethlehem gives the visit a religious character rather than a political one.

The most important issues expected to be discussed during the visit comprise of strengthening the bilateral Israeli-American relations, work against common threats of the two countries, including terrorism and containing Iran’s influence in the region, and discussing ways to advance peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Israeli media platforms also mentioned that Trump may deliver a speech in the Israeli Knesset.

A White House statement about the expected Trump’s visit to Israel said, “the leaders will discuss a range of regional issues, including the need to counter the threats posed by Iran and its proxies, and by ISIS and other terrorist groups. They will also discuss ways to advance a genuine and lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.”

Final plans regarding bringing Netanyahu and Abbas together in the same room during the scheduled visit is not set yet.

National Security Adviser McMaster said during a White House briefing on Friday, “U.S. President Donald Trump will express his desire for dignity and self-determination for the Palestinians," McMaster added that in Israel, "Trump would reaffirm America's unshakeable bond to the Jewish state."

Trump’s expected visit to Israel and Palestine comes after Abbas’s visit to the United States on May 3 and Netanyahu’s visit to the White House in February 2017.

During the meeting with Abbas, Trump expressed his confidence in reaching a peace agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis, without elaborating on how to achieve this.

“We will get it done. We will be working so hard to get it done. It’s been a long time, but we will be working diligently, and I think there’s a very, very good chance,” Trump said during a joint press conference with Abbas at the White House.

Trump also said that the Israeli-Palestinian agreement might not be as difficult as people have thought over the years.

From his side Abbas stressed his commitment to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital. And in comments published by the official Palestinian Authority news outlet Wafa, Abbas expressed his “deep appreciation” to Trump after “constructive and in-depth talks that represented a promising start for peace during the Trump administration.”

The right-wing Israeli government is trying to keep U.S. President Donald Trump in Jerusalem for the longest time during his brief visit. They are also planning a visit to Al-Buraq wall in occupied Jerusalem.

As part of the Israeli preparation for the expected visit, a delegation of 25 U.S. officials arrived in Israel to coordinate the details of the visit, and hold meetings at the Israeli president's office and the office of the Israeli Prime Minister. The delegation will also study several sites that can be included in the visit.

Israel postponed this week’s “Supreme Planning Committee” of the so-called "Civil Administration" meeting to approve building plans in the settlements. Netanyahu requested to postpone the meeting until after Trump's visit to Israel.

Trump’s visit coincides with Israel’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the occupation of Jerusalem, the so-called “Jerusalem Day” on May 23. On the Palestinian side, the visit coincides with the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike since April 17 and few days after the memorial of the Palestinian Nakba on May 15.

Trump’s trip is expected to kick off with a May 19 flight to Riyadh, followed by a trip to Palestine and Israeli controlled areas on May 22, and finally a visit to meet Pope Francis in the Vatican. Trump mentioned that he will add these three stops to an already announced participation in the NATO meeting in Brussels on May 25 and the Group of Seven summit in Sicily on May 26.

In his speech during the National Day of Prayer, Trump said that he will work to reinvigorate traditional alliances in the region. He also described this visit as “truly historic” as he is visiting the spiritual centers of Islam, Judaism and Catholicism.

Trump's visit will be evaluated by its results and outputs, and his ability to reach a deep understanding of the Middle East's problems and of the correct solutions that actually can be carried out in a war-torn area.

The possibility of holding a joint meeting between Trump, Abbas, and Netanyahu will be decided during the visit. The last important meeting between Abbas and Netanyahu dates back to 2010. Peace efforts between Palestinians and Israelis have been stalled since the failure of the U.S. initiative in April 2014.