Jerusalem of Gold

The announcement of president Donald Trump officially recognizing Jerusalem as the capital city of the state of Israel confirmed a situation the facto, creating more noise than necessary. When all the main institutions that made the backbone of a state are situated in a city which happens to be the most important place on Earth for Judaism, mentioned in prayers for thousands of years, it means that this city is the capital city, regardless what America or other countries say - or not.

The moment is important from many points of view though which might complicate the aftermath of the historical announcement: the competition between different Palestinian factions is harsh and only a conflict against the eternal enemy could separate the winners from the losers; the official division lines between the Muslim countries in the region - never in fact great allies, but never so openly expressing their inanimities either - are bigger than never and, as usual, the common 'enemy' is what they need to assume in the face of the world their common front; the distance between the president and the other institutions like State Department and intelligence community is getting wider, with an opposition between the two block which cannot lead to a win-win situation - it happened in a milder form during the mandate of Pres. Bush Jr. The embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem - and the way in which various bureaucratic evolutions would take place is the most interesting so far, because the success or failure of relocating the diplomatic mission is the litmus test of the political determination to officially recognize the capital city of Israel. The fact that other countries - such as the EU-member Czech Republic and the Philippines - announced a similar move might be only the beginning of a step-by-step progress towards accepting the reality. After all, the accreditation letters of ambassadors are received in the same Jerusalem, not in Tel Aviv.

Will the 'peace process' undefinitely put on hold? Long before the declaration of president Trump, the negotiations were blocked as, among others, president Abbas was incapable to calm down its own people and convince any potential partner that he can really bring peace. This is less likely to happen in the near future. The different terror Palestinian groups were already set for a war for a couple of months, at least since the summer tensions regarding the metal detectors at Temple Mount. The fact that tensions are reignited those days is just a trick aimed to offer more and more fuel to a Western media set against Israel because the journalists are mostly used to see a black-and-white reality, not necessarily because lacking the proper sources of information.

On the Israeli politics home front, prime-minister Netanyahu and his close allies are facing file after file of corruption accusations. Bibi is a maven when it comes to conflicts and he is smart and fierce enough to get the best credentials in successfully managing a security crisis. And this is just how things are on the ground, in the capital city of the state of Israel, Jerusalem.