In economic news, President Trump signed a spending bill on Friday that will provide funding to prevent a government shutdown. The measure will hold for two weeks. Topics currently up for discussion include extending the Children's Health Insurance Program, which currently provides healthcare to over 8 million children, removing the budget freeze on domestic agencies as well as the Pentagon, and providing more aid to Puerto Rico, Florida, and Texas in the wake of a disastrous hurricane season. In addition, negotiators are seeking to secure protections for adults who were brought to the United States illegally as children. Both political parties are working to come to a solution by the New Year. As Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer stated, "Funding the government is extremely important, helping our soldiers is very important and helping average citizens is very important. So we're here in the spirit of: Let's get it done."
Yet by far the most notable development this week under the Trump administration was President Trump's decision to endorse Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Jerusalem's status has been hotly contested since the Arab-Israeli Wars of 1948 and 1967, during which Israel seized the western and eastern halves of the city respectively. Plans for future peace deals have often involved Israel ceding eastern Jerusalem to a hypothetical Palestinian state. That Trump did not make any mention of eastern Jerusalem, or of Jerusalem's possible role as the capital of Palestine, indicates that United States supports Israel's full annexation of the city, a reality that would bring the aforementioned peace talks to an end.
The U.S. has positioned itself as a neutral peace broker between the two nations, and its diplomats consider neutrality an essential component of its dealings with the region. However, this policy on paper has often differed significantly with the United States' policy in practice, and much of the world already views the United States as a biased power in the Israeli-Palestine conflict. There are a number of reasons for this: for one, the power gap between Palestinians and Israelis is immense. Because Israelis are perceived as occupiers and the United States has mediated their presence in the region, the U.S. is often blamed for this power imbalance. Furthermore, American politicians often feel pressure, particularly from the evangelical Christian right, to affirm their status as pro-Israel during campaigns while simultaneously endorsing policies that are intended to be neutral. The last three presidential administrations have all granted Israel numerous concessions in order to make them more comfortable and presumably more willing to consider peace proposals.
Given this context, Trump's announcement that he would endorse Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, while shocking to Americans, is not nearly as shocking to the international community. Trump has, in essence, confirmed long-held suspicions that the United States is not a neutral arbiter between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Though perhaps not surprising, the endorsement has achieved little other than anger the international community. As CNN host Fareed Zakaria stated on Sunday: "[The move] actually achieves little on the ground, all the while offending millions of Palestinians, hundreds of millions of Arabs, and public opinion almost everywhere. When China, your European allies, the Pope, the kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan all voice strong opposition, it is surely worth questioning the wisdom of the policy."
- https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/09/world/middleeast/jerusalem-trump-capital.html
- http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/dec/08/trump-signs-2-week-spending-bill-to-avoid-shutdown/
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/12/11/the-many-casualties-of-trumps-jerusalem-move/?utm_term=.c44018b7fe7a
