Israel/Palestine,  Trump

A higher price?

It’s possible that President Trump was a tad distracted by new developments on Tuesday, which caused him to ramble even more wildly and incoherently than usual. But when he addressed a campaign rally in West Virginia, he touched on his decision to move the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“You know what, in the negotiation, Israel will have to pay a higher price because they won a very big thing – but I took it off the table,” Trump told the crowd, speaking of the Jerusalem decision. “They [the Palestinians] could never get past the fact of Jerusalem becoming the capital. Now it’s off the table – there’s nothing to negotiate. But they’ll get something very good ‘cause it’s their turn next. We’ll see what happens.”

I’m not sure what Trump meant by “a higher price,” but you don’t have to be a hard-line Likudnik to be concerned. And I wonder if Bibi Netanyahu envisioned having to pay any price at all when he welcomed the embassy move– which was, after all, purely symbolic.