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Thank you Mr. TrumpThere has been something of a tendency to ‘misunderestimate’ Donald Trump. However, I have it on very good authority that he’s a visionary genius who holds the best interests of the Arab world close to his heart. I can already hear the expressions of doubt and disbelief - so let me share what I know:I have in my possession an exclusive transcript of a recent strategic planning session by Trump and his team, during which this great businessman declared: “It troubles me that the Arab world is in such a divided and miserable state, particularly as this sorry situation is largely due to the mistakes of my predecessors. What can we do to reunite the Arabs?”The White House Arab Affairs Advisor was summoned (appointed to this prestigious role because he once went on holiday to Cyprus). This Advisor informed those present: “I hear it said that there is nothing which unites the Arab people more strongly than the issue of Palestine.”Those around the table were deeply impressed by this news. They unrolled a map and discovered that Palestine was a small entity within the State of Israel. Their enthusiasm for the task increased.However, the Arab Affairs Advisor had yet further insights to share: “Concerning the Palestine issue; no single matter arouses greater passions – not just to the Arab peoples, but to Muslims everywhere – than the issue of Jerusalem.”“Aha!” Declared Trump’s Media Advisor: “You once spoke of this city in a speech, when you promised to move your largest and most important Embassy in the Middle East to Jerusalem.”“Let it be done;” declared Trump: “We will move our Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and the entire Arab and Muslim world will be united once again.”Okay – I’ll admit that some segments of this story may never have actually happened. However, it could be that we come to be intensely grateful to Donald Trump for this precise reason: There has been no issue for the last ten years which has greater potential to unite the Arab and Muslim world than the possible relocation of America’s Israel Embassy to Jerusalem.If it needs to be said; let me remind you why this issue matters: Our central aspiration for the establishment of a united and flourishing Palestinian State has always hinged on the premise that Jerusalem will be its capital. Even the most far-reaching concessions discussed in various rounds of the peace process envisaged a shared solution for Jerusalem, acknowledging its Arab and Muslim heritage and the dominant position of the Arab population at least in East Jerusalem.Shifting the US Embassy to Jerusalem implicitly makes all past and future peace efforts irrelevant by conferring recognition upon Jerusalem as the capital of a Jewish Israeli state – Jerusalem, this city with a rich and precious Arab heritage and one of the centres of the Islamic faith.Very simply; Jerusalem is the red line to end all red lines. If this issue does not unite the entire Arab nation and the Muslim world - then I know of no issue which can.Thus, we should see the Trump’s declaration less as a threat, but rather an opportunity for the entire Arab world to come together and speak with a single voice: “This can not and will not happen”.The Palestinian cause has for a long time been in a sorry state, in particular since the catastrophic split between the PLO and Hamas, and other divisions which weakened the Palestinian body politic. If the issue of Jerusalem cannot bring the Palestinian people and their leaders together shoulder-to-shoulder, then nothing else can and the Palestinian cause is already lost forever.The wider Arab world has likewise become hopelessly divided: Sunni against Shia; radical against moderate; the powerful versus the powerless – yet there is nobody born of Arab blood in this Arab nation, speaking the Arabic tongue, for whom Jerusalem and the Palestinian cause are not issues which they learnt to care passionately about while still on their father’s lap.I would go further and claim that Jerusalem and Palestine are so integral to our Arab and Muslim identity that if we fail to stand up as one man in the face of this decision, then we no longer deserve to call ourselves Arabs.This is the sense in which I believe that Donald Trump has done us a favour; by giving us an issue that we so self-evidently must unite around - or acknowledge that the divided and humiliated position in which we find our region today is entirely deserved.To make the matter even more unambiguous for us, Binyamin Netanyahu has just announced that his government is lifting restrictions for building hundreds of homes in East Jerusalem; a proposal which if implemented would plunge a dagger into the Arab identity of East Jerusalem – a further step towards transforming the social fabric of this Arab city forever.An advantage of Trump is that we know what we are getting: We have heard his unfiltered and raw views on his campaign and via Twitter, and many of his worst ideas at some point will have to collide with the brick wall of reality. The thing which scares a politician the most is having to change his mind or reverse his position. For a businessman like Trump, changing direction is a normal response to the circumstances. We trust that Trump may change his position on Jerusalem when he sees the strength of Arab feeling on this issue.So I put it to you that Donald Trump is a unifying president if ever there was one: Indeed; immediately after his inauguration he united millions of demonstrators on the streets of US cities and around the world in defence of women’s rights, the protection of immigrants and against discrimination and hatred.I now hope to see the same unity in the Arab world as we put our differences and conflicts to one side and say that while there is blood in our bodies we will stand in defence of Jerusalem’s Arab and Muslim heritage.If the Arab world was able to speak as one on this issue – the entire Arab nation standing together alongside the Palestinian people – then not only would any encroachments on Jerusalem become impossible, but it would also be a major step towards putting to one side the petty, stupid and damaging divisions which have so fatally weakened us.Let us make this the foundation stone upon which we reassert our Arab unity. ................
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