Hamas, not Trump, to blame for deadly violence
It is absurd to blame Donald Trump’s move of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem for the deadly violence in Israel.
As Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull pointed out, the terror group Hamas, which controls Gaza, purposely pushed tens of thousands of rioters towards the Israeli border in the certain knowledge that the Israeli defence forces would not allow them to breach that border.
Whenever Hamas has breached the border with Israel in the past it has attempted to murder Israeli civilians.
Moreover, the “march of return” protests Hamas has been running on the Gaza border appear to be timed more to spoil Israel’s celebration of its 70th birthday than to coincide with the US embassy opening.
Even more important, the idea the embassy is a provocation — and that the response must be violent demonstrations — robs the Palestinians of agency. It infantilises them.
No one who accepts the legitimacy of Israel contests its sovereignty over West Jerusalem. The US has bought land in West Jerusalem where it plans to locate its permanent new embassy.
In the meantime, the US ambassador and a few staff have moved into the American consulate, which already exists right on the Green Line marking the border of East Jerusalem and West Jerusalem, although even this is further complicated because this land historically had a special UN status.
However, the point is that the Palestinian leadership has long accepted the presence of a US diplomatic mission in that spot.
Bill Clinton as president sponsored legislation to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in the mid-1990s. The US government, with strong bipartisan support, thought this not only perfectly legal but sensible. Clinton never got round to the move. But there can be no serious doubt about its legality.
Dave Sharma, the highly regarded former Australian ambassador to Israel, has called for Canberra to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. He is not calling for us to move our embassy, but to formally recognise the status of Israel’s capital.
Such a move, like Trump’s embassy shift, would not prejudice any future negotiations Israel and the Palestinians might have about a separate Palestinian state, and the incorporation of parts of East Jerusalem.
That there has been such shocking violence, especially on the Gaza border, over the past few days is a tragedy. These are all unnecessary deaths.
As Turnbull argued, the Palestinian leadership must bear a huge share of the moral responsibility for this tragedy.
Trump has proven to be very effective in carrying out his election promises. Many US presidential candidates have vowed to move the embassy to Jerusalem; Trump has done it.
The moral responsibility for the actions of others responding to this legal and reasonable move does not lie with Trump.
The Palestinian leadership has moved its issue back into the global spotlight. But that will yield no positive results and there has been, as ever, a terrible price.
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It is absurd to blame Donald Trump’s move of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem for the deadly violence on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.