Western Wall should be part of Israel, but what about the Temple Mount?
The White House has made the positive step of announcing the Western Wall should be part of Israel:
They also note:
Senior Trump administration officials outlined their view Friday that Jerusalem's Western Wall ultimately will be declared a part of Israel, in another declaration sure to inflame passions among Palestinians and others in the Middle East less than two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital.This is all good, but, by that same token of logic, the Temple Mount must be part and parcel of Israel too, and no mosque built as a symbol of conquest can change that.
Stressing that the ultimate borders of the holy city must be resolved through Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the officials – speaking ahead of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's trip to the region – essentially ruled out, however, any scenario that didn't maintain Israeli control over the Western Wall.
The issue is sensitive because the wall is situated beyond the pre-1967 armistice lines and abuts some of the Islamic world's most revered sites.
"We cannot envision any situation under which the Western Wall would not be part of Israel. But as the president said, the specific boundaries of sovereignty of Israel are going to be part of the final status agreement," a senior administration official said.
Another official later added by email, "We note that we cannot imagine Israel would sign a peace agreement that didn't include the Western Wall."
They also note:
In a press briefing, another White House official explained that while "the last couple weeks in the region have been a reaction to the Jerusalem decision and we've seen a lot of the emotions," much of the reaction has been positive. "I think that a lot of people in the region, they really respect the president. They really like this administration. We're working well together."Now that's definitely an accurate statement. Bringing down ISIS and Iran is vital too. But then, so is bringing down the PLO and Hamas once and for all. Such terror outfits cannot be considered valid.
"[Our] number one priority there is countering Iran; defeating ISIS and terror; and then combating the extremist ideology," the official went on to say. "So they know after this that the president will keep his word. He's not going to be doing things like the last administration. They know that he is very serious and focused on his objectives, and we will continue to pursue it."
Labels: anti-americanism, anti-semitism, iran, islam, Israel, Israeli Arabs, Jerusalem, jihad, terrorism, United States, war on terror, White House
