Following the inauguration of Donald Trump, the Israeli government has increased talks of building more homes in the predominantly Palestinian West Bank as well as moving the American Embassy from its current location in Tel Aviv to the Israeli capital of Jerusalem. Israeli settlement building in land considered by many to be Palestinian has been a point of contention in the international community. Though the Israeli government recently forced out many Jewish families from Amona, a privately, Palestinian owned territory in the West Bank, they have stated that they will continue to build homes for Israeli Jews in the West Bank. Though Palestine is not an officially recognized state in the eyes of the United States, and Israel controls their land, many countries still seek a two state solution, a solution which becomes increasingly harder as Israelis move into the Palestinian land in numbers too large to be removed, angering many countries. This was expressly prohibited in a recent UN resolution, however, the Israeli government has publicly stated it will not follow the resolution. The Israeli government and the Obama administration had a testy relationship at best which resulted in the United States condemning Israeli settlement building and providing over $200 million to the Palestinian government, a portion of which is considered to be a terrorist organization. Following the election of Trump, many Israelis hope America and Israel can become stronger allies as Trump has repeatedly expressed support for various actions taken by Israel and claimed he would like to move the United States embassy to Jerusalem, effectively recognizing it as the Israeli capital. Jerusalem once held many of Israel’s embassies, but not that of the United States, however, they gradually left for Tel Aviv, until all were gone. The United States once said it would move its embassy to Jerusalem and even leased land, which it continues to lease, however, it has consistently been delayed. A United States recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital would be an affirmation of good standing with Israel, but would strengthen tensions in the region as it would claim that Jerusalem does not belong to the Palestinians, and as many see it, by extension, all Muslims. Though relations with many Middle Eastern countries have never been strong for America, this action could cause them to be even worse and could anger countries that are important to American economic interests, though likely not to the point of a break in economic relations. Regardless, President Trump has been following through on many campaign promises and seems to have his own idea of how international relations should be, so open support of Israeli settlement building or a move of the embassy to Jerusalem would not be surprising and Israeli and Palestinian governments do not seem to be in any place to make the agreement they have failed to make for the past 70 years.
