MEMO TO PRESIDENT TRUMP AND PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU
THERE’S A REASON WHY EVERY PRESIDENT SINCE JOHN F. KENNEDY HAS NOT MOVED THE US EMBASSSY TO JERUSALEM AND EIGHTY FOUR COUNTRIES HAVE THEIR EMBASSIES IN TEL AVIV AND NONE ARE IN JERUSALEM
The facts of the matter:
The Fourth Geneva Convention (1948) prohibits countries from annexing territories conquered in war. The UN Security Councils there ruled that the annexation of East Jerusalem ws illegal under international law and are not recognized by the international community. This is in response to WWII where Germany conquered countries and made them part of greater Germany. Russia also wanted to make countries such as the Baltics and Crimea part of Russia.
The international community regards Jerusalem as a city whose final status willl be determined in direct negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians.. Both sides want Jerusalem as their capitol.
Three main reasons to oppose moving the embassy to Jerusalem.
FIRST, BY MOVING THE EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM, THE U.S. WILL BE DEFYING INTERNATIONAL LAW
But who cares about International Law or the Security Council resolution? They have no teeth.
International Law was codified in response to Nazi atrocities during WWII and designed to prevent history from repeating itself . The Fourth Geneva Convention for example was adopted in August 1949 and designed to govern the treatment of civilians during wartime, including hostages, diplomats, spies, bystanders and civilians in territory under military occupation The convention outlaws torture, collective punishment and the resettlement by an occupying power of its own civilians into territory under its military control. If we in the U.S. trash it – how could we sanction Russia for annexing Crimea. Think of the acceptance of the settlements on the West Bank and annexation of East Jerusalem.
SECOND, MOVING THE EMBASSY BY THE U.S. WILL DISQUALIFY ITSELF FROM ACTING AS A FAIR BROKER OR MEDIATOR IN THE ISRAELI=PALESTINIAN CONFLICT.
It will be explicitedly predetermining the outcome of the negotiations by taking a pro-Israeli position. Moving the embassy will prejudge the permanent status issueof Jerusalem, in direct violation of the Oslo accords, which states “It was understood that several isssues were postponed to permanent status negotiations, including Jerusalem”.
FINALLY, MOVING THE EMBASSY POTENTIALLY WILL BRING ABOUT AN EXPLOSION OF VIOLENCE.
Jordan and other Arab countries have already indicated that this will cause an explosion in the Arab world. The fact is as experts in this area have noted, “we have never witnessed a geopolitical move as potentially shocking and infuriating to the Palestinian sector as moving the embassy. Such a move will tell the Palestinians “Abandon hope. Political processes – negotiations, diplomacy, and the like – will not only not help you they will harm you”.
AND EXPERIENCE TEACHES US THAT VIOLENCE THAT BEGINS IN JERUSALEM VERY RARELY STAYS IN JERUSALEM.
Islamic terrorist organizations will rally support around what they will argue is a threat to Al Quds. U.S; embassies around the Muslim world could be targeted.
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I favor moving the embassy to Jerusalem after a final status agreement, it it is a city tha is central in Jewish heritage much lie Mecca is central in Islam. I only ask that the authors of the article recognize the centrality of Jerusalem in Judaism.
For 2,000 or so years, Jerusalem has been so central to Judaism, that most synagogues have been built to face Jerusalem, from Jewish communities all over the globe. They also prayed constantly for its restoration, for the temple restoration, for the ancient sacrifice practices to be restored and also for the Torah and G-d to reign and radiate out to the whole world from Jerusalem.
Yet, for most of that time the vast majority of Jews and their rabbis and communities chose (for whatever myriad reasons) to remain in the diaspora and keep those principles and prayers and wishes and longings SPIRITUAL rather than physical in reality on the ground.
There always have been reasons galore……..arguments for and against, some radical experiments, and a few small groups who ventured to settle in some holy places in the holy land and Jerusalem.
But by and large, despite the Inquisition and many more tribulations and attempts at genocides, most Jews chose to remain in the diaspora and keep the holy land and Jerusalem as spiritual symbols of the past and the religion and the unique biblical history we claim as directed by G-d.
The issue remains, at best, a controversial and disputable, one with branches of thought in many directions developed over these millenia…………..so that clear, plain-to-understand answers based on biblical scholarship and religious beliefs cover almost as much mental and spiritual territory as the planet-wide diaspora of nations and countries where Jews settled and thrived, moved or emmigrated through all this time.
No clear answer can satisfy even any one sect among the many within the Jewish religion, either…….the issue is almost a historic enigma, loaded with emotion, history, wars, theologies of all 3 monotheistic religions as well……..
Hardly can a simple solution be found with humanity’s well-being or even Jewish well-being considered seriously.
It would be a beacon of light for world peace if all these factors could be taken into consideration on all sides of tahese disputes, and the ultimate purpose of the biblical messages: peace and coexistence in the world for all mankind……
Quite disingenuous to say “THE U.S. WILL BE DEFYING INTERNATIONAL LAW” if it moves the embassy to west Jerusalem, where there is no dispute over sovereignty. If the embassy moves to west Jerusalem this has nothing to do legally with the annexation of east Jerusalem. I fail to follow your logic – exactly which “international law” would the US be defying if it moves the embassy to land that is not disputed and the international community accepts as sovereign Israeli territory? Should we Israelis insist that our embassy be moved out of Washington because it is on occupied native American territories? Aren’t the two of you (Haber and Lerner) illegal occupation settlers on stolen land? Experience teaches us that societies, like Palestinian society, that embrace and condone violence are of course prone to violence and they don’t need an excuse to engage in violence instead of peace building. Perhaps Trump should propose an American embassy first in East Jerusalem, the day that the Palestinians form a single central government (required by international law as a condition for statehood). That would mean people like you would have to work with Hamas to get them to change their ideology from war to peace. Cripes, even Keith Ellison wrote recently on this website that peace with Palestine is not obtainable…while it was a refreshingly candid admission, he still failed to completely deal with the reality of the Islamofascist Hamas government that repeatedly says it is dedicated to destroying the peace process. A US embassy in Bayit V’gan has nothing to do with the reality of a failed Palestinian state.
Jerusalem was never sovereign Palestinian territory. It was supposed to be under the administration of the UN with the 1947 partition. Jordan later annexed east Jerusalem
As the writer / editor of the Argentum Post, I congratulate you two for this concise, educational, and informative article which is also highly supportive of peace by justice to all concerned and that of course means the autochthonous Palestinians in their rightful lands.
Hopefully someone with intellectual curiosity and a basic element of social and historic conscience at the White House will read it, particular when two misleaders such as Netanyahu and Trump meet today.