Social media react to Trump recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital
Despite warnings from allies, Trump is due to direct the State Department to begin looking for a site for an embassy in Jerusalem as part of what is expected to be a years-long process of relocating diplomatic operations from Tel Aviv.
Israel considers the city its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there. Palestinians want the capital of an independent Palestinian state in the east of the city. June 19, 2015
People across a Middle East on edge used social media on Wednesday to have their say about US President Donald Trump's expected announcement recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Many felt such a move would inflame regional tensions, plunge Palestinian Israeli relations to a new low and bring further chaos and instability to a long-troubled region.
Criticism poured in from Tehran to Ankara to war-ravaged Syria, reflecting the anxiety ahead of the announcement which upends decades of US policy and risks potentially violent protests.
This is how Twitter users reacted:
Mariam Barghouti, a Palestinian writer tweeted that the issue with declaring the capital of Israel as Jerusalem is that it ignores "Palestinian existence and right to self determination."
Ya'll the issue to Trump declaring #Jerusalem the capital of Israel should not be the fear of reaction from Palestinians & Arab states,rather the fact that an international administration is once again ignoring Palestinian existence and right to self determination. #Palestine
— مريم البرغوثي (@MariamBarghouti) December 6, 2017
A Palestinian man tells me as I interview him: "Who is America to declare the capital of Israel when it's Palestinian land?"
— مريم البرغوثي (@MariamBarghouti) December 5, 2017
We're marking 100 years of Balfour with another manifestation of it by @realDonaldTrump. #Palestine #Jerusalem
Writer and President of the National Iranian American Council, Trita Parsi denounced Trump's expected decision, terming it "a pyromaniac" move.
This will be the end of American influence in the MidEast as we know it:
— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) December 6, 2017
Trump's pyromaniac embassy move to Jerusalem combined w/ enforcing on Palestinians (via Saudis) a "peace plan" that leaves then with nothing.
The final nail in the coffin of Pax Americana in the region...
Others declared Jerusalem to be the capital of Palestine.
Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine. Israel is an apartheid state founded on the illegal occupation of Palestine by the Israeli military. Zionism is the racist & colonial ideology which justifies the ethnic cleansing of my people - the indigenous people of Palestine. pic.twitter.com/1cmGp2WXKZ
— Samar Ziadat (@samarziadat) December 5, 2017
#JerusalemIsTheCapitalOfPalestine
— sahar💫 (@charm__8) December 5, 2017
photos for the Capital of Palestine 1920 which is 97 years before the born of the Israeli occupation. pic.twitter.com/JEasmQxbUG
The capital of #Palestine: #Jerusalem pic.twitter.com/RHRcBpHFap
— Ali Özkök (@Ozkok_) December 6, 2017
I have just arbitrarily decided to declare Pensacola the new capital of Isreal. You're welcome. #JerusalemIsTheCapitalOfPalestine
— Larry Poulton (@fookanoo) December 6, 2017
United States Senator from California, Dianne Feinstein said "The future of Jerusalem is an issue that should be decided by Israel and the Palestinians, not unilaterally by the United States."
Senator Feinstein urged Trump to "reject calls to change Jerusalem's status."
Reports indicate the president will move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. I wrote him last week to explain why that would be a terrible decision. pic.twitter.com/MV1o73nyDk
— Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) December 5, 2017
Writer and political analyst, Yousef Munayyer noted that no other "countries have their embassies in Jerusalem."
ZERO countries have their embassies in Jerusalem. The one country that is about to change this, the US, is the so-called "mediator" between Israel and Palestine. Think about that.
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) December 6, 2017
Much of the violence between Israel and the Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank over the past 20 years has been connected to tensions in the Holy City.
Twitter users have cautioned that the decision could trigger full-scale violence.
Moving our U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem will imperil Americans, isolate our country, and make peace less likely. It’s reckless.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) December 6, 2017
The risk of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital is not that it will derail the peace process as there is no peace process w any real prospects. The risk is that it will increase tensions & lead to violence at a time there is more than enough tension & violence in the world
— Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) December 6, 2017
Others believe such a decision by Trump would be the "right" move.
No matter what he says today, the President of the United States will not be "declaring" Jerusalem Israel's capital. It already is and has been since 1949. Recognition of that fact by the U.S. government will be exactly that. No country but Israel can declare Israel's capital.
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) December 6, 2017
Trump is doing the right thing today regarding Jerusalem.
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) December 6, 2017
There won't be peace in that part of the world until Muslims want peace, until they recognize Israel's right to exist, and until they join the modern world.
The Muslim world needs its reformation.
President of the Eurasia Group, Ian Bremmer, noted that a decision to change the capital of Israel would be less destabilising than it would have been 10 years ago.
Trump Jerusalem move is destabilizing. But much less than, say, 10 years ago.
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) December 6, 2017
Israel/Palestine no longer top priority for most in MidEast
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