UN vote a setback but US key to Mideast peace hopes
Washington,(MILLAT ONLINE):Washington’s latest overwhelming defeat at the United Nations may have been an embarrassment, but any claim it has lost its role as Middle East peace mediator will likely prove premature.
A huge majority of UN member states, including close US allies and major aid recipients, voted Thursday to reject President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Underscoring the significance of the defeat, US ambassador Nikki Haley had warned that Trump would be watching and that she would be “taking names” of countries who let him down.
But — once again — Trump’s “America First” policy delivered an “America Alone” result, leaving some Palestinians crowing that the United States can no longer serve as peace mediator.
Vice President Mike Pence had already postponed a trip he was due to make to the region this week, after Palestinian and Arab Christian leaders had proved reluctant to meet him.
So, perhaps Washington will have to keep its powder dry for a few weeks as dust settles, some experts acknowledge.
But if there is ever to be a long-elusive peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, only one broker can deliver it.
“There’s been peaks and valleys before on this issue,” said David Makovsky, a peace process veteran and senior fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“If I had a dollar every time people said ‘Oh, it’s over now, the US is not the broker…” he told AFP ironically.
Dan Shapiro, who served as former president Barack Obama’s ambassador to Israel, dismissed the vote as a “pathetic UN circus” and urged Washington to refocus on its goal.