FOREIGN POLICY/ISRAEL/MIDDLE EAST/PALESTINE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “When President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and promised last December to move the U.S. Embassy there, the predictions of violence came fast and furious…Despite visible anger and some localized violence after Trump unveiled his decision, the region did not go up in flames. No embassies were stormed. The reaction was surprisingly muted — especially in Arab countries whose leaders have long supported Palestinian claims on Jerusalem. Some analysts believe Trump’s decision made an already moribund peace process all but impossible to revive… Still, among Trump allies, the tense calm has been a vindication — an ‘I-told-you-so’ to the foreign policy experts who warned that the world would end if he made good on his campaign promise to relocate the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv… But by Monday [5-14-18] afternoon, dozens of Palestinians were killed and over 1,000 were wounded as Israeli forces fired on thousands of protesters trying to breach the fence between the Gaza Strip an Israel, according to media reports. Still, there’s a growing sense that a surge in violence now may not matter that much in the long run. The status of Jerusalem — and maybe even the overall status of the Palestinians — no longer galvanizes the Muslim world as it once did, analysts on both sides of the issue say. The longtime calculus has been altered by worries about Iranian influence, the spread of Islamist militancy, internal anger at Arab autocracies and frustration with Palestinian leaders.”
-Nahal Toosi, “Trump’s Jerusalem bet defies direst predictions,” Politico, May 14, 2018 12:46 pm