Current Events Blog Post #2 - Gaza and Trump

Screen cap of U.S. President Donald J. Trump's tweet from March 21, 2019.

On March 22th, 2019 Haarretz.com published “Trump's Golan Recognition Will Cause Bloodshed, Top Palestinian Negotiator Warns .” This article written by Jack Khoury, discussed U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement publicly announcing and recognizing the Golan Heights as Israeli territory. The Palestinian Liberation Organization, Druze leaders in the Golan, The Egyptian Foreign Ministry, the Islamic Jihad, Fatah leaders, United Arab List-Balad, chairman of the Hadash-Ta’al party, MK Ayman Odeh, Al-Marsad from the Arab Center for Human Rights, the GCC secretary general, Abdul Latif Al Zayani all denounced, disapproved, or disagreed with Trump’s recognition. Specifically, the article highlighted, Druze leaders who firmly believe that Trumps statement is simply an attempt at serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu political party and popularity but will essentially be ineffective in altering any real international law regarding the Golan Heights. Moreover, other organizations like Hamas, see this declaration as aggression towards Arab nations and an explicit bias towards Israel. More seriously though, Al-Marsad, from the Arab Center for Human Rights in the Golan points out the seriousness of the situation, that Trumps tweet not only is a shift in U.S. policy that contradicts “fact, logic, and international law” but is threatening to the stability of the surrounding Middle East. This article mentioned only one individual who supported Trumps statement. Dmitry Apartzev the major of Katrin, thanked Trump for his recognition of Israelis in the Golan and Israeli sovereignty over the region. In sum, Trumps statement of his recognition of Israeli control over the Golan was ineffective in altering any foreign policy regarding the Golan and Israel but angered leaders of Arab nations and organizations while explicitly showing Trumps alliance with Netanyahu and his politics.

Khoury quotes countless Arab leaders throughout this piece regarding Trumps declaration of the Golan Heights as Israeli territory. The Arab Israeli writer references Saeb Erekat, the Chief Palestinian negotiator on the Palestinian Liberation Organization in the first section of the article followed by a similar quote from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. Khoury does not state whether these quotes were taken from a recent public speech, from an interview or a soundbite from a reporter following Trumps statement. The information following this first part follows a similar pattern, as he quotes from Hamas, Fatah, and United Arab List-Balad leaders who share a similar viewpoint of Trumps “aggression” towards Arab nations and bias for Israel. Khoury makes reference to these leaders but does not identify a specific leader to follow the quotes. Likewise, Khoury includes a quote from the Gulf Cooperation Council who shared their view on Trumps statement of aggression, and mentions Abdul Latif Al Zayani, the Secretary General for the Council. Later in the article, Khoury does quote Knesset Member Ayman Odeh of the Hadash-Ta’al party directly when Odeh criticized Trump for making political declarations via Twitter. Similarly, Khoury credits the Russian Sputnik News for a quote from Ahmed Aboul Gheit the Secretary General for the Arab League, stating that the Arab League supports Syria which claim the Golan as occupied territory. These direct quotes are often more reliable when making reference to specific person through there are no citations providing at the end of the article of where readers may read for themselves. As a result, it is difficult to fully accept Khoury’s quotes to be fully true and accurate, as they can be cropped and cut to fit the writers subjective opinion/critique of the Arab leaders.

Haaretz is a left-wing newspaper known for their liberal positions on domestic and foreign policy. Jack Khoury of Haaretz has published numerous articles following domestic and foreign politics surrounding Israel since June of 2009. The 38-year-old reporter for Haaretz serves on the Israeli newspaper as a voice of Israeli Arabs often under represented within Israeli news. Unfortunately, I could not locate Khoury’s specific credentials on the Haaretz website, but it is evident that Khoury often fills in the Arab Israeli perspectives in his writings. In “Trump's Golan Recognition Will Cause Bloodshed, Top Palestinian Negotiator Warns” Khoury offers only one statement about organizations that share Trumps view or support it. This could be for several reasons; there is a small percentage of people who support Trumps statement, and even from that group there is a likelihood that those same people are willing to explicitly show support for the U.S. President, and lastly, Khoury only addresses those in opposition to Trump's declaration, but this could again be because Khoury serves to address views under represented in Haaretz. Additionally, Khoury’s view may be presented subtle in comparison to people who are further aligned with Trump’s beliefs, like people in the Likud party, rather than people writing for Haaretz, who hold liberal and left-leaning positions in domestic and foreign news and politics.