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I Do Again

Thursday
December 7, 2017
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Trump Declares Jerusalem Israeli Capital, Smashing US Policy

Harsh objections came
from a wide array of presi-
dents and prime ministers.
From the Middle East to Eu-
rope and beyond, leaders
cautioned Trump that any
sudden change on an issue
as sensitive as Jerusalem
not only risks blowing up
the new Arab-Israeli peace
initiative led by Trump’s
son-in-law, Jared Kushner,
but could lead to new vio-
lence in the region.
No government beyond
Israel spoke up in praise
of Trump or suggested it
would follow his lead.
Israelis and Palestinians re-
acted in starkly different
terms. Prime Minister Ben-
jamin Netanyahu hailed
Trump’s announcement
as an “important step to-
ward peace,” and Israeli
opposition leaders echoed
his praise. But Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas
said Trump’s shift serves ex-
tremist groups that want re-
ligious war and signals U.S.
withdrawal from being a
Vice President Mike Pence watches as President Donald Trump holds up a proclamation to officially recognize Jerusalem as the
capital of Israel, in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017, in Washington. (AP/E. Vucci) peace mediator. Protesters
in Gaza burned American
By MATTHEW LEE city as Israel’s capital and a new approach, starting he set no timetable. and Israeli flags.
BRADLEY KLAPPER sparking frustrated Palestin- with what he said was his “We cannot solve our prob- Trump’s declaration of Je-
Associated Press ians to cry out that he had decision merely based on lems by making the same rusalem as Israel’s capital
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi- destroyed already-fragile reality to recognize Jerusa- failed assumptions and re- is a powerfully symbolic
dent Donald Trump shat- Mideast hopes for peace. lem as the seat of Israel’s peating the same failed statement about a city that
tered decades of unwav- Defying dire, worldwide government. He also said strategies of the past,” houses many of the world’s
ering U.S. neutrality on Jeru- warnings, Trump insisted the United States would Trump said, brushing aside holiest sites.
salem Wednesday, declar- that after repeated peace move its embassy from Tel the appeals for caution
ing the sorely divided holy failures it was past time for Aviv to Jerusalem, though from around the world. Continued on Page 2