US President Donald Trump returned to Washington on 28 May after his first foreign tour since he became president. It was an eight-day trip that began in Saudi Arabia before going on to Israel, Bethlehem to meet Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority (PA), onwards to the Vatican, and then to two long-awaited summits with America's post-World War II allies, a NATO summit in Brussels followed by a G-7 meeting in Italy. By all accounts, the tour was a success even if there were differences among the long-time allies on the more equitable shouldering of defence expenditures within NATO, on the Paris Agreement on climate change, and on international trade. In parallel to the trip, the US media and congressional Democrats hounded the American president on the firing of former FBI director James Comey and alleged contacts between Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, and the Russians on establishing back channels between the Trump administration and Moscow. Regardless of the outcome of the various hearings and investigations pending to determine whether there has been any wrongdoing on the part of the Trump team or not, one question remains unanswered. Did the foreign tour advance the cause of peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis? Trump spoke about peace between the two in his first major foreign address before the unprecedented Arab/Muslim-American Summit on 21 May in Riyadh, and so did the host, King Salman of Saudi Arabia, as well as the Egyptian president and the king of Jordan. The Riyadh Declaration then stressed the need to work for peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The visit of the American president to Israel and Bethlehem that followed was used to gauge peace prospects. Trump, the first American president to visit Israel this early in his term in office and the first sitting president of the United States to visit the Western Wall, addressed the Israelis on seven different occasions in the span of 36 hours, the period of his visit. His pronouncements on these occasions were expectedly upbeat about the prospects of peace, but they fell short on the specifics. On the last leg of his tour, Trump visited American troops stationed at the US naval base Sigonella in Sicily before flying back home on Saturday. In his remarks in Israel, he reaffirmed America's “unbreakable” bond with Israel and stressed that “all children from all faiths deserve a future of hope and peace, a future that does honour to God.” He added that Abbas had “assured me he is willing to reach for peace with Israel in good faith.” And not only Abbas, but also Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “assured me that he, too, was ready to reach for peace.” However, these Israeli assurances to Trump were followed by convening the weekly Sunday meeting of the Israeli government at the Western Wall that lies in Occupied East Jerusalem on 28 May. Netanyahu said that the venue had been chosen “on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the liberation and unification of the city of Jerusalem.” The Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in the Six Day War of June 1967 is presented by the extreme right in Israel as “liberation and unification.” Netanyahu went further and announced a five-year Israeli development plan for Jerusalem. US sources accompanying Trump on his foreign tour hinted that the US administration could come up with a peace plan in the next few weeks and brought up the idea of a peace conference in the second half of the year. Apparently, the conference aim will not be limited to peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, but rather will seek a “regional peace”, whatever that means. Some Israeli sources hinted that Egypt could be the venue of such a conference, which, if convened, would be the first of its kind in the Middle East since the creation of Israel in 1948. In Israel, Netanyahu is thinking of forming a national-unity government bringing in the Labour Party in case Naftali Benett, the leader of the settlers' party in the Israeli government, decides to quit if the peace negotiations resume. The proposed national-unity government would comprise all Israeli political parties willing to resume peace talks with the Palestinians and go along with American ideas about a possible peace deal between the Palestinians and the Israelis. What are the chances of an American peace plan emerging in the next few weeks? With the persistent media hounding of the Trump administration, coupled with the comeback of the Obama-Clinton couple on the political scene at home and intent on harassing the administration, it would be nothing short of a miracle if the Trump administration in Washington could concentrate on peace in the far-away Middle East. Maybe if Trump decides to relocate the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the roaring political tempests in the American capital will wither away. We will know the answer in June when the presidential waiver in this respect expires by law. If Trump opts not to resign it, then the relocation will take place by law according to the “Jerusalem Embassy Act” adopted by Congress in 1995. The author is former assistant to the foreign minister.
