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Trump ‘backing off’ on Jerusalem embassy, analyst says, warning of 'Palestinian Versailles'

US President Donald Trump will most probably “back off” on his promise to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds, which Palestinians want as their future capital, a political commentator speculates.

Trump met with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas in the White House on Wednesday to discuss prospects of peace between Israel and Palestine.

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Earlier in the day, US Vice President Mike Pence asserted that such a decision is under “serious consideration,” although candidate Trump had vowed to make the controversial move immediately after assuming office.

US President Donald Trump and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas shake hands in the Roosevelt Room during a joint statement at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 3, 2017. (Photos by AFP)

According to Chicago-based author and radio host Stephen Lendman, Abbas “certainly does not represent the interests of Palestinians” as he is a “long-time Israeli collaborator.”

Palestinian Versailles

Speaking to Press TV in an interview on Wednesday, the political commentator asserted that the Palestinian president is being pressured, although he may put up a “brave face.”

“Trump wants to pressure him to restart the peace process. Well, it’s been dead in the water (and) dead on arrival; each time initiated for decades, the chance for any reasonable peace between Israel and Palestine is virtually nil,” Lendman said.

Any time the two sides appear to be approaching peace, he added, “it won’t be peace; it’ll be Palestinian surrender, something like Oslo that the late Edward Said called ‘Palestinian Versailles,” in reference to the Treaty of Versailles which, ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers after World War I, but did that without any consideration for the rights of the German people.

“It will be a Versailles 2.0 if anything is agreed on.”

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meets with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Washington, DC, on May 3, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

On the campaign for the 2016 presidential election, candidate Trump said he would move the American embassy “straight away,” Lendman said.

“Well, it’s past his 100th day; he hasn’t done anything… I think he is backing off but it’s really hard to tell.”

Since Trump’s inauguration in January, Tel Aviv has increasingly become emboldened in its expansionist plans for Jerusalem al-Quds.

Israel lays claim to the entirety of Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital while Palestinians want its eastern part as the capital of their future state.

During its long history, the holy city has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.


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