Donald Trump Turns Secular On Israel Visit: Is President Doing So To Achieve Israeli-Palestinian Peace Deal?
American president Donald Trump seemed to bring three faiths together on his visit to Jerusalem, which is his first official foreign trip after he became the top leader of the United States. The president is all set to commence his journey to Israel on Monday with an aim of achieving Israeli-Palestinian peace.
While the goal appears tough to be achieved, Donald Trump finds it quite easier to make the two-state deal possible. The president claims that the task is easier than what “people have thought.”
Israel is a nation that brings together three faiths: Muslims, Christians, and Jews. As a result, Donald Trump is all set to turn secular for his first ever foreign trip as the U.S. president. He is expected to arrive in Tel Aviv on Monday afternoon before he begins talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The president is scheduled to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher first. This is the place where Christians believe Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected.
The next destination of Donald Trump will be the Western Wall where Jews pray. It is considered their holiest site, and Trump will be the first sitting American president to visit this east Jerusalem location. The Western Wall has been in the news when controversy arose that raised doubts over the roots of the Western Wall. The U.S. officials declined to confirm if it belonged to Israel.
There are speculations that Donald Trump will move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Considering the reports, few right-wing Israelis believe that by taking the step, the U.S. president might compel Netanyahu to agree to the Palestinian peace deal. Prior to reaching Israel, Trump stopped in Saudi Arabia where he requested that Islamic leaders not tolerate violence that arises in the name of religion.
The American president is due to meet Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday in Bethlehem in the West Bank. Donald Trump will also visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem and deliver a speech at the Israel Museum. Although the U.S. president is confident enough of settling the peace deal between Israel and Palestine, Palestinians claim that a one-hour visit won’t change anything.
Donald Trump described achieving Israeli-Palestinian peace as the “ultimate deal” that is possible and America will get it done.
“It is something that I think is frankly maybe not as difficult as people have thought over the years,” Trump said while he met Abbas in Washington in early May.
Israel acquired east Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1967, and later annexed the former. The state claimed the city was its capital. On the other hand, Palestinians have always considered east Jerusalem as their future state capital. Hence, east Jerusalem has been an important territory that has led to the rift between the two states. No peace plans, U.N, resolutions, secret negotiations, international summits, and other programs have yielded any result.
American presidents have been trying to implement different strategies to make sure the states mutually agree to the clauses and forget their issues. However, all attempts have failed. Though Trump seems ambitious and confident about sorting the issues between the two states, it still appears difficult to achieve the goal.
“I will discuss with President Trump ways to strengthen even further the first and strongest alliance with the U.S.,” Netanyahu said on Sunday. “We will strengthen security ties, which are strengthening daily, and we will also discuss ways to advance peace.”
Meanwhile, Donald Trump appeared to turn soft to all religions, including Muslims, is a speech that he used to address over 50 Muslim-majority nations in the U.S.-Islam summit in Riyadh. He said that terrorists “don’t worship God” but “they worship death.” He also reminded that 95 percent of the terrorist attack victims are Muslims.
[Featured Image by Win McNamee/Getty Images]
