Jerusalem [File photo]

Donald Trump has enormous divisive powers. He has repeatedly shown this through provocative statements, bad decisions and untimed twitters outbursts ever since becoming president. But the latest act to recognize Jerusalem as capital of Israel and shift the U.S. embassy is the "unkindest cut" of all due to its vast and explosive implications. 

Trump reversed more than a seven-decade-old official policy by making the announcement. He also used the presidential powers to implement the Jerusalem Embassy Act 1995 that envisaged the shifting of the embassy to the holy city. 

While announcing the biggest policy shift for the volatile region, Trump said that he was doing it in the "best interests" of his country and in the "pursuit of peace between Israel and the Palestinians."

The announcement is all music to his Jewish and other hardline rightwing supporters. The president for them has fulfilled another promise made during the election trail. Trump knew it quite well and said: "Today, I am delivering."

For him, he has done nothing apart from recognizing the reality, and the reality is that already Israel has its parliament and several high offices in Jerusalem. But he should know another reality that the Palestinians have been persecuted and dispossessed of their land. 

For many right-minded Americans and the rest of the world, Trump has opened up vaults of unlimited unrest. His decision provides firepower to extremists all over the world to use it for recruiting militants. The timing is bad as it coincided when the Islamic State has been on the run in Iraq and Syria and needed something big to regroup and increase its appeal.

Trump has given an opportunity to Islamic State and dozens of other militant outfits to use it as proof of American mischief against the Muslims. The groups like Hezbollah and Hamas could use it to get more manpower and launch activities against the Jewish state as well as against U.S. interests.

The president ignored all sane voices advising that now is not the time for such a provocative action. His own Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defence James Mattis opposed the move.  He also ignored pleadings by diehard allies in Europe and the Middle East to wait. He even refused to accept the views of UN Secretary General and the Pope on the issue. 

Thus, with just one move, Donald Trump trashed what the entire world community thought on this sensitive issue.

The reasons for making the move of horrendous proportions are simple. Trump has failed to deliver on domestic as well as on international fronts. His law to repeal Obamacare is nowhere in sight. The economy is giving mixed signals with so far little increase in jobs and other indicators, and it still remains a challenge to build the "big and beautiful" wall on Mexican border. 

The issue of North Korea has almost slipped out of control and the North Korean regime has claimed to have missiles which can hit deep inside the United States. There is no hope to bridge the trade gap with China, which has also already eclipsed U.S. international outreach in terms of espousing the cause of globalization. 

Similarly, Iran remains a red rag for the president and militants have established control over more than half of Afghanistan, where the U.S. is struggling to create peace.

Trump’s ratings have dipped due to omissions and commissions. Every day he has to fight fresh duels with media. He is embroiled in the scandal of Russian interference in the presidential elections and has failed to unite the country, which was seldom as divided as under Trump.

These multiple failings and fear of losing prestige has prompted him to play to the gallery. The decisions like shifting the embassy serve a twofold purpose: First, the hardcore support base get reassurances that the president is on their mission. Second, the noise and cacophony following the decision will divert attention from other important domestic issues. 

It is politics at its worst when a world leader in his efforts to hide his own failures is ready to sink the world into sea of unrest. Ironically, the decision may not change anything materially for Israel which already claims Jerusalem as its capital. But it would make security for the Jewish state a distant dream.

The local disturbances could shake up the U.S. grip on regional politics at a time when rivals China and Russia are making investments to increase their presence in the strategic Middle East. 

The Muslim groups and societies should not play in the hands of Trump by resorting to violence and creating security problems. It could be one of the objectives of Trump's decision and can only be defeated by keeping anger under control and protests strictly peaceful.

The decision once again supports the argument that Israel was created to serve the vested interest and it continues to serve those interests at the cost of thousands of innocent Muslims, Christians and Jews who live in this region. 

Sajjad Malik is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SajjadMalik.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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