By Amb Alan Baker, JCPA

Institute for Contemporary Affairs

Founded jointly with the Wechsler Family Foundation

Vol. 17, No. 34

1. Jerusalem has been the official capital of the State of Israel and the center of its government since 1950. Jerusalem is the seat of Israel’s President, Knesset, and Supreme Court, and the site of most government ministries and social and cultural institutions. Jerusalem is the ancient spiritual center of Judaism and is also considered a holy city by the members of other religious faiths. Israel protects the holy sites of all faiths.

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T. Belman. Trump doesn’t have to be bribed to fight Iran or to let Saudi Arabia do it. That’s what he wants.

By Adam Shaw, BREITBART

White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner is stoking a widely reported feud with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by pursuing his hopes that a relationship with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince will lead to a peace deal in the Middle East.

Kushner was given the task of creating peace in the Middle East as part of his broad portfolio when Trump took office in January. Now, CNN reports that Tillerson is upset by what he believes to be a dangerous strategy by Kushner that involves pushing an agreement with Saudi Arabia which would create a Palestinian state and “normalization between Israel and its Arab neighbors.”
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By Anne Barnard, NYT, Dec. 3, 2017

Tourists with a panoramic view of Jerusalem’s Old City.Thomas Coex/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

BEIRUT, Lebanon — In a mysterious trip last month, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, traveled to Saudi Arabia’s capital for consultations with the hard-charging crown prince about President Trump’s plans for Middle East peace. What was said when the doors were closed, however, has since roiled the region.

According to Palestinian, Arab and European officials who have heard Mr. Abbas’s version of the conversation, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman presented a plan that would be more tilted toward the Israelis than any ever embraced by the American government, one that presumably no Palestinian leader could ever accept.
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By Ayub Nuri, RUDAW

The United States Consul General in Erbil says that it is not his country’s policy to abandon the Kurds, as it was the feeling among many in the Kurdistan Region during the October events and the takeover of Kirkuk by Iraqi forces.

“I was quite frankly surprised how quickly that feeling of abandonment came about the events of last month,” the US Consul General Mr. Ken Gross told Rudaw’s Ayub Nuri in a television interview. “It is not our policy to abandon the Kurds or the government here in Kurdistan.”

Mr. Gross said that both Iraq and the Kurdistan Region mattered to the United States and that’s why Washington is working with Erbil and Baghdad to bring their leaders to the negotiation table.
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MEMRI

In an article in the English-language Saudi daily Arab News titled “A Window Has Opened for Middle East Peace — Let’s Grab the Chance,” prominent Emirati businessman and writer Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor states that the Arabs and Israel currently have a vested interest in settling their differences and making peace, in order to join forces in fighting their common enemies: Iran and its allies. He stresses, however, that such cooperation between Israel and the Arabs will be difficult without making progress towards the resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. To this end, he advises both the Palestinians and Israelis to put aside their grievances and unrealistic expectations, and work together to find a pragmatic and feasible solution to the conflict. Addressing Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, he urges him to turn to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, in whom he will find true allies for advancing peace with the Palestinians and also for fighting Israel’s and the Arab’s common enemies.
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THIS IS HUGE

Account of Palestinian concern over proposal backed by Saudi crown prince comes out ahead of expected US policy change on Jerusalem

By ALEXANDER FULBRIGHT, TOI

By Bob Price, BREITBART

The Trump Administration announced plans to pull the U.S. out of a United Nations pact on the handling of migrant and refugee situations. The announcement came from the U.S. mission to the United Nations. U.S. officials said the program is “inconsistent” with American policies.

“Today, the US Mission to the United Nations informed the UN Secretary-General that the United States is ending its participation in the Global Compact on Migration,” U.S. officials said in a report from AFP.
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DEBKA

The US hands-off to Iran’s top general in Iraq, Ali Abdullah Saleh’s changeover of sides in the Yemen war and Trump’s’ thinking on Jerusalem – all signal a new, proactive US strategy for the region.

Central Intelligence Agency chief Mike Pompeo was uncharacteristically frank when he addressed high-ranking US military and security officials on Saturday, Dec. 2, at the Reagan Presidential Foundation. He revealed that he had sent a note to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Al Qods chief, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, and explained: “I sent it because he had indicated that forces under his control might in fact threaten US interests n Iraq.”

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T. Belman. As Shaked said to Trump, “Just do it.”. To hell with their threats. To hell with the peace process.

Unless domestic reaction becomes unexpectedly explosive, Riyadh, Cairo and Amman can be expected to confine their responses to verbal missives that will soon subside.

By Ben Lynfield, JPOST

If the Palestinians are counting on a strong response from Arab states if the Trump administration recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, they are likely to be disappointed.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyadh Malki called Sunday for an emergency meeting of the Arab League amid US media reports that US President Donald Trump is going to deliver a speech on Wednesday in which he will recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
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T. Belman. I was extremely dissapointed on hearing Kushner’s remarks and am very glad Klein put pen to paper to take issue with everything that disturbed me. Kushner is no rightwinger. He is repeating all the memes which didn’t produce an agreement in the past.

By Aaron Klein, BREITBART

Earlier today, Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, made a rare public appearance to discuss his efforts to secure an Israeli-Palestinian deal and forge a wider Middle East peace.

While Kushner’s remarks were short on specifics, his 30-minute Q&A at the Saban Forum in Washington revealed dangerously delusional thinking when it comes to issues of U.S. national security, the so-called Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran, and the largest Middle East.

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Very dissapointing.

Jared Kushner at Saban Forum: Israel Needs Peace With Palestinians Before It Can Form Alliance With Arab States

HAARETZ

WASHINGTON – Jared Kushner, U.S President Donald Trump’s senior adviser on Middle East peace and the president’s son-in-law, told the Saban Forum in Washington, D.C. on Sunday that Israel needs to reach a peace deal with Palestinians before it can form an alliance with the greater Arab world.
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Starts at 3:00.

Pompeo says he sent a warning letter to the leader of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, who didn’t open it

By DEB RIECHMANN

By Idrees Ali, FOREIGN DESK

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday that as offensive operations against Islamic State in Syria entered their final stages, he expected the focus to move towards holding territory instead of arming Syrian Kurdish fighters.

Speaking with reporters on a military plane en route to Cairo, Mattis did not say if there had already been a halt to weapons transfers.

U.S. President Donald Trump informed Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in a call last week that Washington was adjusting military support to partners on the ground in Syria.
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