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Saturday, February 4, 2017
MEMRI: Prominent Saudi Journalist: West Jerusalem Is Part Of Israel; Moving The U.S. Embassy There As Part Of Overall Peace Agreement Could Herald The End Of The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

MEMRI January 31, 2017 Special Dispatch No.6764
Prominent Saudi Journalist: West Jerusalem Is Part Of Israel; Moving The
U.S. Embassy There As Part Of Overall Peace Agreement Could Herald The End
Of The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
https://www.memri.org/reports/prominent-saudi-journalist-west-jerusalem-part-israel-moving-us-embassy-there-part-overall

In a January 25, 2017 article in the London-based daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat,
prominent Saudi journalist 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed, the daily's former
editor and the former director of Al-Arabiya TV, discussed the issue of the
U.S. moving its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He stated that
the Israeli sovereignty over West Jerusalem is a settled matter, and that
moving the U.S. embassy there, or any other embassy, would not lend
legitimacy to the occupation. Rather, if U.S. President Donald Trump moved
the embassy to Jerusalem as part of an overall peace agreement, this measure
could actually mark the end of the occupation and the conflict.

Al-Rashed also noted that, in the 2000 Camp David talks, Yasser Arafat sadly
missed an opportunity to restore East Jerusalem to the Palestinians as part
of then-U.S. president Bill Clinton's unprecedented proposal for resolving
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He added that today, due to the crises
plaguing the Middle East, "the Palestinian cause is no longer central,"
although extremists exploit the Palestinian tragedy to further their own
interests.

It should be noted that one day before Al-Rashed's article was published,
Saudi columnist Muhammad Aal Al-Sheikh published an article in the official
Saudi daily Al-Jazirah titled "The Palestinians Have No [Choice] But Peace."
Like Al-Rashed, he argued that the Arab world, currently preoccupied with
civil wars and with fighting home-grown terrorism, no longer regards the
Palestinian cause as its foremost concern, and called on the Palestinians to
forgo armed resistance and embrace the two-state solution – for that is the
only solution that is feasible and supported by the international
community.[1]

Kuwaiti journalist 'Abdallah Al-Hadlaq also expressed support for relocating
the embassy, in a January 28, 2017 article in the Al-Watan daily titled "Be
Brave [Trump] – Move [The Embassy] to Jerusalem and Trust in God." Quoting
extensively from an article by Robert Satloff, executive director of the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy, which presents arguments in favor
of the embassy move,[2] Al-Hadlaq argued the move could involve extensive
benefits and not only dangers and drawbacks. He concluded by saying: "Wise
and intelligent diplomats, politicians and pundits are telling Trump, who is
reluctant to move the embassy to Jerusalem: 'Be brave, move it to Jerusalem
and trust in God."[3]

The following are excerpts from 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed's article in
Al-Sharq Al-Awsat:[4]


"The decision of the U.S. government to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to
occupied Jerusalem is not a new measure. Congress issued a binding order to
that effect over a decade ago, but successive [American] presidents worked
to thwart the move by delaying the process. This, because they cannot undo
the decision without going back to Congress for a decision that overturns
it – and such an attempt might fail. What is new is the insistence of the
new American president, Donald Trump, to implement [this decision] as he
promised.

"I will discuss three aspects connected to the talk about moving the
embassy: the meaning of [the term] 'occupied Jerusalem,' the historical
aspect, and the current situation.

"Already in 1948, the year the state of Israel was established, the U.S.
opened a diplomatic representation in Tel Aviv, the first capital of the
Jewish state, and so did the other powers. A year before the outbreak of the
1967 war, the U.S. opened the embassy in a large building in Tel Aviv, which
serves as its official residence to this day. Later a consulate [general]
and [consular services] were opened in Jerusalem, and their location has
changed [over the years]. The current location [of the consular services] is
near the Green Line separating [East and West] Jerusalem...

"Arabic political terms are [sometimes] used vaguely in [Arab] statements,
and this is the case with the term 'occupied Jerusalem.' Usually this [term]
refers to 'occupied Eastern Jerusalem,' rather than the city as a whole,
namely the part Israel conquered in 1967 from the Hashemite kingdom [of
Jordan]. As for West Jerusalem, it was already under Israeli control before
that, and it has never been included in any discussion or negotiations. Its
[status] as part of Israel is a settled matter. Arab politicians use the
vague term 'occupied Jerusalem' to avoid getting entangled in the issue of
recognizing Israel.

"Historically, the Palestinians had only one opportunity to regain control
of occupied East Jerusalem, but the negotiating team, headed by the late
[Palestinian] president Yasser Arafat, missed this opportunity. This was at
the Camp David [talks] in 2000... U.S. president Bill Clinton decided to
resolve the [Palestinian-Israeli] issue [once and for all] and put all his
weight behind the negotiations. He reached a 'reasonable' solution with
Arafat and with then Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, which no president
had proposed before or has proposed since. The Clinton proposal involved
returning to the Palestinians over 90 percent of the West Bank and 100
percent of the Gaza Strip, with a safe passage between them, [to form] a
de-militarized independent Palestinian state. [The proposal also specified
that] East Jerusalem, including the [Al-Aqsa] mosque and the Dome of the
Rock, would return to the Palestinians, excluding the Jewish Quarter and the
Western Wall, which would be placed under international supervision.[5]

"[But] for some unknown reason, Arafat did not attend the final meeting and
[instead] sent a delegation to Washington on his behalf to inform Clinton
that they were rejecting the proposal – and the proposal collapsed. During
that period, extremist Palestinian groups close to Iran and the Assad regime
[in Syria], such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, carried out armed operations
against Israel. The extremist camp in Israel used this to undermine a
subsequent attempt to negotiate [an agreement] in Taba, and then Barak
resigned. Arafat tried to revive the [negotiation] attempts, but it was too
late – and to this very day East Jerusalem and the [rest of] the occupied
territories are subject to [acts of] usurping land and altering the
character of sites in the area and Judaizing them...

"Due to the destruction and displacement that [now] plague the Middle East,
[especially] Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, the Palestinian cause is no longer
central. We will not forget how extremists exploited the Palestinian tragedy
to serve opportunistic regimes. Iran reached a nuclear agreement [with the
superpowers] on the condition that it stop harming the U.S., and Hizbullah
effectively took control of Lebanon in the name of the purported resistance
[against Israel]. As for Assad and Qaddafi, they were defeated because of
their inciting positions.

"Finally, will moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem kill the hope of
establishing a Palestinian state? I think that [even] if the U.S. moves its
embassy – and [even] if all the governments of the world do the same – this
will not grant legitimacy to the occupation. [But we] hope that Trump takes
this controversial move of transferring the embassy as part of a peaceful
solution [to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict] that he has promised [to
achieve]. Trump said he would assign this task to his son-in-law, which
reflects his commitment [to this issue]. Who knows? Perhaps the embassy will
be the last of the political campaigns."

[1] See MEMRI January 26, 2017 Special Dispatch, "Saudi Journalist: The
Palestinians' Reliance On Armed Resistance Is Political Suicide; The
Palestinian Cause Is No Longer The Arabs' Primary Concern," No.6757.


[2] Washingtoninstitute.org, January 2017.


[3] Al-Watan (Kuwait), January 28, 2017.


[4] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), January 25, 2017. It should be noted that
English versions of this article were posted on the daily's English edition
and also on Al-Arabiya's English website, but they are not identical to the
Arab version. See english.aawsat.com, english.alarabiya.net, January 25,
2017.


[5] The Clinton proposal spoke of establishing an independent Palestinian
state that would include the Gaza Strip and the vast majority of the West
Bank, while settlement blocks would be incorporated into Israel with the
goal of maximizing the number of settlers in Israel while minimizing the
land annex; in Jerusalem Arab areas would be under Palestinian sovereignty
and Jewish ones under Israeli sovereignty; Palestinian refugees would be
allowed to return to the Palestinian State (unispal.un.org, January 7,
2001).


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Materials may only be cited with proper attribution.

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