(by Roberta PREZIOSA) The currents of thought on the future of Palestine always oscillate on two eternal hypotheses: the monostatual one and the bistatic one.
Arab-Palestinian intellectuals spoke of the inevitability of a monostatual solution, with a territorial extension from the Jordan to the Mediterranean and inhabited by Arabs and Jews. At the same time, US governments echoed the mantra of the bistatic solution. Both proposals have implementation limits due to the nature of the ethnic groups present there, the Arab Palestinian and the Jewish one, which, due to the accumulation of a different story gained by the 1947 on, daily live in precarious balance, prey of external ideological influences: the Arabs abhor the idea of a Jewish identity in the Middle East and ultra-Orthodox Jews consider Palestine the promised Land as reported in the Bible.
The status of Jerusalem, a sacred site for Israelis and Palestinians, is extremely controversial. Israel has always regarded Jerusalem as its capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
US administration officials said that US President Donald Trump will today recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital during a speech at the National Defense University in Washington DC.
The representatives of the American government have stressed however that delaying the recognition of Jerusalem as a capital "has contributed nothing to achieving peace".
In this regard, it should be noted that it is true that a peace has not been reached, but recognition in itself will cause a deeper rift between the Jews and the Palestinians, which will certainly not bring further benefits to the peace process.
With this recognition, the United States would become the first country to do so ever since the founding of the state, which took place in the 1948.
According to American sources, the transfer process of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem will not take place immediately. The operation, before taking place, should in any case take years, as it will be necessary to find a site, financing and then build the new headquarters.
An American official said, "The president is keeping a central promise of his campaign, a promise that has been made by many presidential candidates." Obama's speech in Cairo, 4 June 2009, for example, represented the beginning of a renewed relationship between the West and the Muslim world, which deteriorated after the events of 11 September 2001. In his speech, Obama laid the foundations for a new dialogue and for the desired resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian problem in the complex Arab world.
Presidents Obama and Trump present different opinions and strategies for the Middle East peace process: surely Trump's strategy is very different from the strategies of the last American presidents, both Republicans and Democrats.
American sources have also said that Trump is ready to support "a two-state solution" if Israelis and Palestinians agree on this point and reach a lasting peace agreement.
This equation does not, however, appear to be simple for different reasons: both for the "dangerous consequences of this decision on the peace process, on security and stability in the region and in the world", as he pointed out, during a telephone conversation with the his American counterpart, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and because as he recalled yesterday to Trump the Turkish president Erdogan, "Jerusalem is the red line for Muslims".
French President Emmanuel Macron also expressed his "concern" and recalled that the question of the status of Jerusalem should be regulated in the framework of the peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
Federica Mogherini, High Representative for Foreign Policy of the European Union, in this regard, said that "we must remain focused on the efforts to restart the peace process and avoid any action that could undermine these efforts".
The tension over the decision remains high, so much so that the United States has prohibited US government employees from traveling to both the Old City of Jerusalem and the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel and contiguous to Jerusalem.
Trump, today, appears diplomatically isolated on the decision for Jerusalem.
In truth, the announced declaration for Jerusalem will not be prodromal to strengthen the peace process in the Middle East: indeed.
Non-negotiated solutions on the peace process usually reinforce inequalities which, in their essence, almost always lead to terrorism.
The "Global war on Terrorism" launched by the US following the 11 September events 2001 is far from being won: indeed.
Trump's decision on Jerusalem will have a major impact on the instability of Middle Eastern theater with unpredictable consequences.