Michael Ejercito
2017-12-07 17:31:35 UTC
Why Trump Is Right in Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's Capital
by Alan M. Dershowitz
December 7, 2017 at 4:00 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11509/trump-jerusalem-israel
President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital is a
perfect response to President Obama's benighted decision to change American
policy by engineering the United Nations Security Council Resolution
declaring Judaism's holiest places in Jerusalem to be occupied territory and
a "flagrant violation under international law." It was President Obama who
changed the status quo and made peace more difficult, by handing the
Palestinians enormous leverage in future negotiations and disincentivizing
them from making a compromised peace.
It had long been American foreign policy to veto any one-sided Security
Council resolutions that declared Judaism's holiest places to be illegally
occupied. Obama's decision to change that policy was not based on American
interests or in the interests of peace. It was done out of personal revenge
against Prime Minister Netanyahu and an act of pique by the outgoing
president.
It was also designed improperly to tie the hands of President-elect Trump.
President Trump is doing the right thing by telling the United Nations that
the United States now rejects the one-sided U.N. Security Council
Resolution.
So if there is any change to the status quo, let the blame lie where it
should be: at the hands of President Obama for his cowardly decision to wait
until he was a lame-duck president to get even with Prime Minister
Netanyahu. President Trump deserves praise for restoring balance in
negotiations with Israel and the Palestinians. It was President Obama who
made peace more difficult. It was President Trump who made it more feasible
again.
The outrageously one-sided Security Council Resolution declared that "any
changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem," have
"no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international
law." This means, among other things, that Israel's decision to build a
plaza for prayer at the Western Wall — Judaism's holiest site — constitutes
a "flagrant violation of international law." This resolution was, therefore,
not limited to settlements in the West Bank, as the Obama administration
later claimed in a bait-and-switch. The resolution applied equally to the
very heart of Israel.
Before June 4, 1967, Jews were forbidden from praying at the Western Wall.
They were forbidden to attend classes at the Hebrew University at Mt.
Scopus, which had been opened in 1925 and was supported by Albert Einstein.
Jews could not seek medical care at the Hadassah Hospital on Mt. Scopus,
which had treated Jews and Arabs alike since 1918. Jews could not live in
the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, where their forebears had built homes and
synagogues for thousands of years. These Judenrein prohibitions were enacted
by Jordan, which had captured by military force these Jewish areas during
Israel's War of Independence, in 1948, and had illegally occupied the entire
West Bank, which the United Nations had set aside for an Arab state. When
the Jordanian government occupied these historic Jewish sites, they
destroyed all the remnants of Judaism, including synagogues, schools and
cemeteries, whose headstones they used for urinals. Between 1948 and 1967,
the United Nations did not offer a single resolution condemning this
Jordanian occupation and cultural devastation.
When Israel retook these areas in a defensive war that Jordan started by
shelling civilian homes in West Jerusalem, and opened them up as places
where Jews could pray, study, receive medical treatment and live, the United
States took the official position that it would not recognize Israel's
legitimate claims to Jewish Jerusalem.
It stated that the status of Jerusalem, including these newly liberated
areas, would be left open to final negotiations and that the status quo
would remain in place. That is the official rationale for why the United
States refused to recognize any part of Jerusalem, including West Jerusalem,
as part of Israel. That is why the United States refused to allow an
American citizen born in any part of Jerusalem to put the words "Jerusalem,
Israel" on his or her passport as their place of birth.
But even that historic status quo was changed with President Obama's
unjustified decision not to veto the Security Council Resolution from last
December. The United Nations all of a sudden determined that, subject to any
further negotiations and agreements, the Jewish areas of Jerusalem
recaptured from Jordan in 1967 are not part of Israel. Instead, they were
territories being illegally occupied by Israel, and any building in these
areas — including places for prayer at the Western Wall, access roads to Mt.
Scopus, and synagogues in the historic Jewish Quarter — "constitutes a
flagrant violation under international law." If that indeed is the new
status quo, then what incentives do the Palestinians have to enter
negotiations? And if they were to do so, they could use these Jewish areas
to extort unreasonable concessions from Israel, for which these now
"illegally occupied" areas are sacred and nonnegotiable.
President Obama's refusal to veto this one-sided resolution was a deliberate
ploy to tie the hands of his successors, the consequence of which was to
make it far more difficult for his successors to encourage the Palestinians
to accept Israel's offer to negotiate with no preconditions. No future
president can undo this pernicious agreement, since a veto not cast can
never be retroactively cast. And a resolution once enacted cannot be
rescinded unless there is a majority vote against it, with no veto by any of
its permanent members, which include Russia and China, who would be sure to
veto any attempt to undo this resolution.
President Trump's decision to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel's
capital helps to restore the appropriate balance. It demonstrates that the
United States does not accept the Judenrein effects of this bigoted
resolution on historic Jewish areas of Jerusalem, which were forbidden to
Jews. The prior refusal of the United States to recognize Jerusalem as
Israel's capital was based explicitly on the notion that nothing should be
done to change the status quo of that city, holy to three religions. But the
Security Council Resolution did exactly that: It changed the status quo by
declaring Israel's de facto presence on these Jewish holy sites to be a
"flagrant violation under international law" that "the U.N. will not
recognize."
President Donald Trump displays the signed "Presidential Proclamation
Recognizing Jerusalem as the Capital of the State of Israel and Relocating
the United States Embassy to Israel to Jerusalem," on December 6, 2017, in
Washington, D.C. (Image source: White House video screenshot)
Since virtually everyone in the international community acknowledges that
any reasonable peace would recognize Israel's legitimate claims to these and
other areas in Jerusalem, there is no reason for allowing the U.N.
Resolution to make criminals out of every Jew or Israeli who sets foot on
these historically Jewish areas. (Ironically, President Obama prayed at what
he regarded as the illegally occupied Western Wall.)
After the UN, at the urging of President Obama, made it a continuing
international crime for there to be any Israeli presence in disputed areas
of Jerusalem, including areas whose Jewish provenance is beyond dispute,
President Trump was right to untie his own hands and to undo the damage
wrought by his predecessor. Some have argued that the United States should
not recognize Jerusalem because it will stimulate violence by Arab
terrorists. No American decision should ever be influenced by the threat of
violence. Terrorists should not have a veto over American policy. If the
United States were to give in to threats of violence, it would only
incentivize others to threaten violence in response to any peace plan.
So let's praise President Trump for doing the right thing by undoing the
wrong thing President Obama did at the end of his presidency.
Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus, at
Harvard Law School and author of "Trumped Up: How Criminalizing Politics is
Dangerous to Democracy."
Reprinted from The Hill with permission. Copyright 2017 Capitol Hill
Publishing Corp.
Follow Alan M. Dershowitz on Twitter and Facebook
© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here
do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone
Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be
reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of
Gatestone Institute.
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by Alan M. Dershowitz
December 7, 2017 at 4:00 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11509/trump-jerusalem-israel
President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital is a
perfect response to President Obama's benighted decision to change American
policy by engineering the United Nations Security Council Resolution
declaring Judaism's holiest places in Jerusalem to be occupied territory and
a "flagrant violation under international law." It was President Obama who
changed the status quo and made peace more difficult, by handing the
Palestinians enormous leverage in future negotiations and disincentivizing
them from making a compromised peace.
It had long been American foreign policy to veto any one-sided Security
Council resolutions that declared Judaism's holiest places to be illegally
occupied. Obama's decision to change that policy was not based on American
interests or in the interests of peace. It was done out of personal revenge
against Prime Minister Netanyahu and an act of pique by the outgoing
president.
It was also designed improperly to tie the hands of President-elect Trump.
President Trump is doing the right thing by telling the United Nations that
the United States now rejects the one-sided U.N. Security Council
Resolution.
So if there is any change to the status quo, let the blame lie where it
should be: at the hands of President Obama for his cowardly decision to wait
until he was a lame-duck president to get even with Prime Minister
Netanyahu. President Trump deserves praise for restoring balance in
negotiations with Israel and the Palestinians. It was President Obama who
made peace more difficult. It was President Trump who made it more feasible
again.
The outrageously one-sided Security Council Resolution declared that "any
changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem," have
"no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international
law." This means, among other things, that Israel's decision to build a
plaza for prayer at the Western Wall — Judaism's holiest site — constitutes
a "flagrant violation of international law." This resolution was, therefore,
not limited to settlements in the West Bank, as the Obama administration
later claimed in a bait-and-switch. The resolution applied equally to the
very heart of Israel.
Before June 4, 1967, Jews were forbidden from praying at the Western Wall.
They were forbidden to attend classes at the Hebrew University at Mt.
Scopus, which had been opened in 1925 and was supported by Albert Einstein.
Jews could not seek medical care at the Hadassah Hospital on Mt. Scopus,
which had treated Jews and Arabs alike since 1918. Jews could not live in
the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, where their forebears had built homes and
synagogues for thousands of years. These Judenrein prohibitions were enacted
by Jordan, which had captured by military force these Jewish areas during
Israel's War of Independence, in 1948, and had illegally occupied the entire
West Bank, which the United Nations had set aside for an Arab state. When
the Jordanian government occupied these historic Jewish sites, they
destroyed all the remnants of Judaism, including synagogues, schools and
cemeteries, whose headstones they used for urinals. Between 1948 and 1967,
the United Nations did not offer a single resolution condemning this
Jordanian occupation and cultural devastation.
When Israel retook these areas in a defensive war that Jordan started by
shelling civilian homes in West Jerusalem, and opened them up as places
where Jews could pray, study, receive medical treatment and live, the United
States took the official position that it would not recognize Israel's
legitimate claims to Jewish Jerusalem.
It stated that the status of Jerusalem, including these newly liberated
areas, would be left open to final negotiations and that the status quo
would remain in place. That is the official rationale for why the United
States refused to recognize any part of Jerusalem, including West Jerusalem,
as part of Israel. That is why the United States refused to allow an
American citizen born in any part of Jerusalem to put the words "Jerusalem,
Israel" on his or her passport as their place of birth.
But even that historic status quo was changed with President Obama's
unjustified decision not to veto the Security Council Resolution from last
December. The United Nations all of a sudden determined that, subject to any
further negotiations and agreements, the Jewish areas of Jerusalem
recaptured from Jordan in 1967 are not part of Israel. Instead, they were
territories being illegally occupied by Israel, and any building in these
areas — including places for prayer at the Western Wall, access roads to Mt.
Scopus, and synagogues in the historic Jewish Quarter — "constitutes a
flagrant violation under international law." If that indeed is the new
status quo, then what incentives do the Palestinians have to enter
negotiations? And if they were to do so, they could use these Jewish areas
to extort unreasonable concessions from Israel, for which these now
"illegally occupied" areas are sacred and nonnegotiable.
President Obama's refusal to veto this one-sided resolution was a deliberate
ploy to tie the hands of his successors, the consequence of which was to
make it far more difficult for his successors to encourage the Palestinians
to accept Israel's offer to negotiate with no preconditions. No future
president can undo this pernicious agreement, since a veto not cast can
never be retroactively cast. And a resolution once enacted cannot be
rescinded unless there is a majority vote against it, with no veto by any of
its permanent members, which include Russia and China, who would be sure to
veto any attempt to undo this resolution.
President Trump's decision to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel's
capital helps to restore the appropriate balance. It demonstrates that the
United States does not accept the Judenrein effects of this bigoted
resolution on historic Jewish areas of Jerusalem, which were forbidden to
Jews. The prior refusal of the United States to recognize Jerusalem as
Israel's capital was based explicitly on the notion that nothing should be
done to change the status quo of that city, holy to three religions. But the
Security Council Resolution did exactly that: It changed the status quo by
declaring Israel's de facto presence on these Jewish holy sites to be a
"flagrant violation under international law" that "the U.N. will not
recognize."
President Donald Trump displays the signed "Presidential Proclamation
Recognizing Jerusalem as the Capital of the State of Israel and Relocating
the United States Embassy to Israel to Jerusalem," on December 6, 2017, in
Washington, D.C. (Image source: White House video screenshot)
Since virtually everyone in the international community acknowledges that
any reasonable peace would recognize Israel's legitimate claims to these and
other areas in Jerusalem, there is no reason for allowing the U.N.
Resolution to make criminals out of every Jew or Israeli who sets foot on
these historically Jewish areas. (Ironically, President Obama prayed at what
he regarded as the illegally occupied Western Wall.)
After the UN, at the urging of President Obama, made it a continuing
international crime for there to be any Israeli presence in disputed areas
of Jerusalem, including areas whose Jewish provenance is beyond dispute,
President Trump was right to untie his own hands and to undo the damage
wrought by his predecessor. Some have argued that the United States should
not recognize Jerusalem because it will stimulate violence by Arab
terrorists. No American decision should ever be influenced by the threat of
violence. Terrorists should not have a veto over American policy. If the
United States were to give in to threats of violence, it would only
incentivize others to threaten violence in response to any peace plan.
So let's praise President Trump for doing the right thing by undoing the
wrong thing President Obama did at the end of his presidency.
Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus, at
Harvard Law School and author of "Trumped Up: How Criminalizing Politics is
Dangerous to Democracy."
Reprinted from The Hill with permission. Copyright 2017 Capitol Hill
Publishing Corp.
Follow Alan M. Dershowitz on Twitter and Facebook
© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here
do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone
Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be
reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of
Gatestone Institute.
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