FOREIGN POLICY/ISRAEL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump said on Monday [3-5-18] that he might visit Israel in May to preside over the opening of a new American embassy in Jerusalem in what would be a potent act of symbolism, even as he expressed optimism that Palestinians angered by the move would nonetheless return to the peacemaking table…
While Palestinian leaders have broken off communications with the Trump administration over the president’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Mr. Trump suggested that they would resume discussions and asserted that he still has ‘a good chance’ of forging a peace deal that has eluded his predecessors for decades…
Palestinian leaders, who also claim Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, have given no public indication that they would return to discussions any time soon. In response to the president’s Jerusalem move, they declared that they no longer saw the United States as a neutral broker with the Israelis. Mr. Trump then withheld $65 million in aid for Palestinian refugees.
But Monday’s meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu in the Oval Office turned into a celebration of the embassy move that both hailed as a sign that Israeli-American relations have never been stronger. While other presidents have promised such a move and Congress has passed a measure officially declaring Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital, no president followed through until Mr. Trump, out of fear of angering the Palestinians and other Arabs and prejudging a final peace agreement.”
-Peter Baker and David M. Halfbfinger, “Trump Considers Visit to Jerusalem in May to Open New Embassy,” The New York Times online, Mar. 5, 2018