Trump on Palestine: A Brief Overview of US-Israeli Relations in Four Years Malak Saleh ber of 2017, President Trump revisited his promise to move the US embassy to Jerusalem in a series of declarations stonewalled by backlash from leaders in the Middle East. This controversial promise was not unique to President Trump however. It was an unfulfilled pact made by former Presidents, including Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, which was made in a claim during his campaign trail in 2008. America’s historical reluctance to fulfill the pledge is for good reason. This bureaucratic move would deepen the divide between the Palestinian Authority and the leadership in Israel.
When Donald J. Trump took office in 2017, it seemed as though all eyes were on his foreign relationships with China, Russia and North Korea, a trichotomy of trade, scandal and existential threat, respectively. However, it was not a surprise to most onlookers when the Trump administration sharpened its focus and diplomatic reserves to bolster the State of Israel, and in doing so, inherently temper the Palestinian political identity. For decades, presidents of the United States have meticulously addressed the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, often leaning their leverages for Israel while also upholding some degree of human rights preservationist views for Palestinians. As President Trump packs his bags and makes his way out of the White House, we are compelled to take a look back at the Trump administrations’ dealings in the region, its lasting impacts and the hefty inheritance he leaves behind for the next US President, former US Vice President Joe Biden.
Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters across the Arab world demonstrated heated disapproval for the US foreign policy action. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to cut ties with Israel if Trump recognized Jerusalem as its capital, according to reporting by Bloomberg. The move also faced pushback from leaders in Europe, including French President Emmanuel Macron, who expressed “concern” about moving the embassy to Jerusalem. The administration agreed to postpone the official opening of the American embassy in Jerusalem for approximately six months, until the administration received the final backing they required. The United Nations General, in a resolution passed by a landslide vote of 128-9, gave the White House the greenlight to move forward with its plans to extend its presence in Israel, making the UN an unexpected backer of the dubious process. Prior to this recognition by the US government, no other country recognized Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem.
Prior to taking the oath of presidency, Trump claimed he would move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that would fully recognize the Israeli state as the sovereign keeper of the highly symbolic and disputed city. This controversial promise pre-presidency forecasted the tone of resolute confederacy the Trump administration would have with Israel. Trump’s first contentious move that demonstrated his administration’s disposition for Israeli sympathy was to drop the United States’ longstanding two-state solution position in February of 2017, stating that the Trump administration would be open to an agreement that doesn’t include separate states for Israel and Palestine. At a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump remarked that two-state or one-state, either solution “works for him.”
The opening of the embassy, which was expedited to May of 2018 on the eve of the anniversary of the Nakba day, led to thousands of Palestinian protestors converging on the Gaza Strip border, a revolt that resulted in the killing of dozens and left thousands wounded in the wake of deadly confrontations.
For over 70 years, the holy city had been categorized as disputed territory under the UN’s designation of the land as an international zone. In Decem18
