It was a bloody prologue to the themes and variations of Donald Trump’s America. Last Monday’s inaugural of the country’s new embassy in Jerusalem ~ relocated from Tel-Aviv to the consternation of large parts of the world ~ has intensified the chronically simmering tension in the Middle East.

The renewal of the flare-up transcends the reckless diplomatic gambit of the US President. Israel has betrayed a dangerous mindset with the destruction by military force of the national aspirations of the Palestinians.

Advertisement

The shootings in Gaza and the resultant killing of unarmed civilians has been perpetrated with calculation on the part of Israeli soldiers, and the world is generally clueless about what the immediate provocation could have been.

Not the least because the protestors at the boundary between Gaza and Israel were unarmed. Indeed, the brutal offensive on unarmed civilians by an army under democratic control has bamboozled the comity of nations generally.

Chiefly because within the boundaries of Palestine people do have the right to protest against the US decision to shift its embassy to Jerusalem ~ a hare-brained initiative of an impetuous President who appears to have been driven by the anxiety to buttress ties with Israel.

In point of fact, this is another diplomatic gamble that has backfired at the threshold. More basically, the protest was intended to emphasise the right of the Palestinians to return to their ancestral homes.

It would be no over-reaction to submit that the brutal severity displayed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government bordered on the criminal. Reports speak of the demonstrators being sprayed with live ammunition… with at least 59 deaths among the Palestinians.

The Israeli military has adopted a dangerous approach. It appears to have been buoyed by the support of the country’s extreme right. By and large, the ministers believe that Israel can, through its vastly superior military force, end the national aspirations of the Palestinians.

The shifting of the US embassy and the recognition accorded to Jerusalem as the new capital is as reckless as it is provocative, one that is bound to harm the prospects for peace. The status of Jerusalem is yet to be finalised… like the issue of refugees, settlements and borders.

Going by the certitudes of international law, no State ~ as an entity of governance ~ is internationally recognised as having sovereignty over Jerusalem. Its status was meant to be determined through negotiations.

Donald Trump being Donald Trump, the US President has ignited yet another controversy, this time in a perenially volatile swathe of the world. He is unlikely to be an honest broker in an essay towards peace ~ a commodity that has been increasingly scarce in the region.