Corporate Watch
By Amelia H. C. Ylagan
Herod the Great was named by the Senate as “King of the Jews,” with a tacit order for him to control the Jews, who by their numbers were a force for the Roman Empire to contend with in the satellite kingdoms of Jerusalem and Judea. He ruled as tyrannical King for some 40 years, calling himself a believer in Judaism — though his subjects, the Jews, did not trust him, knowing that support from the Roman Empire was a major factor in enabling him to maintain his power (Biblical Archaeology Society, 1999). Herod was disliked for his lavish lifestyle that drained tax collections and for his inability to take criticism or any show of disloyalty. For his loss of trust on them, he had his wife (one of many) and several sons killed (Perowne, Stewart, Herod the Great, cited in wikipedia.com).
In the Christian Gospel of Matthew, Herod is the ruler of Judea who orders the Massacre of the Innocents at the time of the birth of Jesus (Matthew 2:16–18). By the warning of an angel, Joseph and Mary were able to escape to Egypt and save the Infant Christ, who was born in Bethlehem. And so Christians in the world — 32% of total population today — have been joyfully remembering the birth of Jesus for the past more than two millennia. The 68% non-believers in Christ the Redeemer nonetheless celebrate a “Christmas” in their own fashion, in December of each year. Peace on earth, goodwill to men.
Yet just when it is Christmas time again, world peace is gravely threatened, as Herodian rulers of the world ruthlessly compromise what should be a humanitarian moratorium on challenges to already-tender old wounds among nations and peoples. How unimaginably lacking in timing that US President Donald Trump should rouse and rile the more-than a century-old Arab–Israeli conflict over Jerusalem on the first week of the Christmas month!
“Trump reversed decades of US policy and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, imperiling Middle East peace efforts and upsetting Washington’s friends and foes alike. Trump announced his administration would begin a process of moving the US embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a step expected to take years and one that his predecessors opted not to take to avoid inflaming tensions. (Reuters, Dec. 7, 2017).”
Arabs and Jews have long been fighting for territory and principle in the long-running conflict between Palestine and Israel. Jerusalem is home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian religions, and decision on the status and ownership of this divided capital right in the middle of Israeli territory is one of the biggest obstacles to reaching a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestine. How can US President Trump just suddenly and unilaterally decide that Jerusalem belongs to Israel? Does he think himself Herod, and self-appointed “King of the Jews?”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Trump’s announcement as a “historic landmark (Ibid.).” But interviewed by Christian Amanpour on CNN, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak agreed that Trump’s announcement “was a good idea…but this did not pass everything to Israel,” meaning, the controversy over Jerusalem is still not solved (CNN, Dec. 9, 2017). Ehud Barak said that he listened very closely to what Jared Kushner, senior adviser to his father-in-law Donald Trump said about the US President’s announcement, and it was clear that peace talks and negotiations will still have to proceed between Israel and Palestine.
Ehud Barak stressed that “we do not necessarily want everything US (Ibid.).” To this, Amanpour showed her year-2000 interview separately with Netanyahu and then Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. She pointed out Netanyahu’s hard line stand in wanting Jerusalem all for Israel, vis-à-vis Arafat’s conciliatory offer of shared sovereignty over Israel. Ehud Barak commented that “Arafat was not the best truth-teller” and judged that Arafat did not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize but should have won the Oscar for his performance (Ibid.).”
Today Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stated, “We reject the American decision over Jerusalem. With this position the United States has become no longer qualified to sponsor the peace process (Reuters, Dec. 8, 2017).” Even former US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer said “(Trump) cannot expect to side entirely with Israel on the most sensitive and complex issues in the process, and yet expect the Palestinians to see the United States as an honest broker (Reuters, Dec. 7, 2017).”
The international community does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the entire Jerusalem, believing its status should be resolved in negotiations. No country (except the US in after two years setup) has its embassy in Jerusalem (Reuters, Dec. 7, 2017).
Egypt, the first Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, denounced Trump’s decision, describing it as a violation of international resolutions on the city’s shared-sovereignty status. Egypt is worried about the impact of the US move on the stability of the region and about its “extremely negative” impact on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process (Time, Dec. 7, 2017).
“Jordan’s King Abdullah II, whose country like Egypt has a peace treaty with Israel, said he had expressed his concerns to Trump in a phone call Tuesday, saying that ignoring Palestinian, Muslim and Christian rights in Jerusalem would only fuel further extremism (Ibid.).”
“Pope Francis called for Jerusalem’s status quo to be respected. China and Russia expressed concern the move could aggravate Middle East hostilities. British Prime Minister Theresa May said London called the US decision ‘unhelpful in terms of prospects for peace in the region.’ The United Nations Security Council is meeting over Trump’s decision, diplomats said last week (Ibid.).”
Protests ran in Jordan’s capital, Amman, inhabited by Palestinian refugees, and several hundred protesters gathered outside the US consulate in Istanbul denouncing Trump’s intervention and urging Jordan’s government to scrap its 1994 peace treaty with Israel. Palestinian Islamist group Hamas accused Trump of a “flagrant aggression against the Palestinian people (Ibid.).” “This has opened the gates of hell.”
Palestinians switched off Christmas lights at Jesus’ traditional birthplace in Bethlehem on Wednesday night to protest Trump’s move (Ibid.).
Peace on earth, goodwill to all (?).
Amelia H. C. Ylagan is a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of the Philippines.
