Top Jordanian Official: Let U.S. Move Embassy to Yerushalayim

YERUSHALAYIM
The embassy of the United States of America in Tel Aviv. (Flash90)

Tarek Mazura, a former Jordanian government minister, believes that the United States should be able to move its embassy to an area of Yerushalayim held by Israel before the 1967 Six Day War, since the Palestinians ostensibly do not seek this area as part of a Palestinian state. Mazura was writing in the Jordanian government-backed Al Ra’i publication. The April 30th article was retrieved and translated by MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute.

In the article, Mazura called on the Palestinians “to recognize their position and deal with the reality of the situation.” The Arab Spring, the rise of Iran, the ongoing civil wars in Syria, Libya and Yemen, and the fading of the Arab world’s petrodollar power have all coalesced to make the West, and especially the United States, less amenable to the Palestinian cause. The Palestinians need to “leave off from the narrative of resistance and the fantasy of total victory.

“The Americans should be able to move their embassy to new [West] Jerusalem without raising a furor,” he wrote. “It is the Old City that the Palestinians and Arabs demand as the capital of their state. I am not aware of any who seek 1948 Jerusalem as the capital — not Hamas, not the PLO, not anyone. There have been rumors of a visit to Jerusalem by [U.S.] President Trump, and this has become a part of the Israeli-Palestinian tension too. Despite the fact that the man is known for tossing out promises both before and after the elections” and not necessarily following up on them, Mazura wrote, he should be able to keep his promise to move the embassy “without embarrassing his country’s policies or his friends” in the Arab world, who should have no problem with such a move.

While in the past, Palestinians were very ambitious — and optimistic that their desires for a maximum settlement would be promoted by the West and especially by the U.S. — times have changed, added Mazura. “It is time to face the bitter truth. No one could have imagined that the tragedy in Syria would be entering its seventh year, or that Iraq would have to still be borrowing money to pay its civil servants, or that there would be an Arab war in Yemen, or that Libya would resort to the conditions even preceding King Idris,” when warring tribes fought bitter battles. “It is time to face reality without fantasies. Our situation is not good,” he added.

 

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