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President Trump鈥檚 decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel carries profound consequences for U.S. policy, relations with the Arab world, the international community, and the pursuit of Israeli-Palestinian peace.

In this conversation, three veteran observers and analysts of the Middle East and the Arab-Israeli arena interpret the change in U.S. policy and its consequences for the region.

Selected Quotes
 

Jane Harman

"I think there is a possibility that this is Phase 1 to get the Saudis to support the Palestinians, who will be in a far better position to agree to a state, which could be a smaller state, and to finally get to 'yes' on the ground. It's not the U.S. call - what the boundaries should be, but it is the call of those who live there, to get to 'yes' on two contiguous states. I could be wrong. If I'm wrong, sadly, we continue in this awful situation, but at least maybe I'm the optimist here and I just wanted to put that out there."

David Horovitz

鈥淭he first thing to stress is the degree to which the president鈥檚 declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has been applauded across the spectrum in Israel 鈥� and not all the way across the spectrum, but certainly from far to the right and well into the left.鈥�

鈥淭he declaration makes it less likely that Mahmoud Abbas will come to the table and that certainly is a cause for disquiet鈥� The Israeli attitude or assessment of where Abbas is鈥� that I don鈥檛 think Israelis have been more down where Abbas is concerned then now, and I think it鈥檚 been an accumulating position.鈥�

鈥淚n his speech, [President Trump] did not rule out Palestinian statehood. He made explicit that his declaration did not set the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem and he called for no change of the status quo.鈥�

Daniel Kurtzer

鈥淥ne of the things that is most confounding to me  is how easy it would have been for [President Trump] to translate this into a creative push in the peace process鈥� The reality is that the United States has been trying to ride two different horses for much of the last 50 years, if not for the entire 70 years. One of those is to act as a third-party mediator and honest broker to the peace process鈥� We have literally pushed aside others who have tried to gain a role鈥� The second horse we鈥檝e been trying to ride is to expand the relationship with Israel. Paradoxically, [this strategy works best] when there鈥檚 no peace process, because you don鈥檛 have to make choices. When you do have to make choices in the peace process, there are things the U.S. needs to ask of Israel that are hard to do.鈥�

鈥淲hat President Trump has effectively done here is that he is going to ride only one horse鈥� and that is Bibi-sitting, rather than babysitting. He鈥檚 decided that it鈥檚 more important for the United States to expand, enhance, deepen, and strengthen its relationship with Israel than it is to enhance the very peace process that he has raised expectations about with regards to the United States鈥� role鈥� Last Wednesday, [President Trump] basically sent the signal [that] if his ultimate deal is going to be made, it鈥檚 not going to emanate from American policy.鈥�

H.E. Dr. Husam Zomlot

鈥淭he question here is what approach is President Trump鈥檚 administration taking towards peacemaking? I was on record to be one of the first to say that President Trump does present a historical opportunity, because and with me are many people in Palestine thought that he had respect on this issue very early on 鈥� and that was a very good sign. That he dedicated a special team for it 鈥� another good sign. He has also [in the beginning] picked the right approach that he鈥檇 like to pick a comprehensive, long-lasting deal鈥� Wednesday comes and I don鈥檛 need to prove the point that he has injected anxiety, anger, and resentment.鈥�

鈥淚n my opinion鈥� the peace process is based on three major pillars; the first pillar is the framework鈥� the second is the mediator鈥� and the third pillar is the peace constituency鈥� The announcement on Wednesday has severely damaged the three components of the peace process鈥� We no longer have the standing U.S. policy of the two-state solution.鈥�

鈥淭he most important alternative for us at this time is not to drop the two-state solution, but to look for more strategic ways to achieve it.鈥�