Jews and Palestinians both treasure the idea of Jerusalem, but in my research, the parts they see as essential barely overlap. I was the lead author of “Negotiating Jerusalem ,” a comprehensive study published in 2000 on how Palestinians and Jewish Israelis feel and think about Jerusalem. And when we asked Israelis about the non-Jewish quarters of the Old City, 40 percent felt the same way. For Israelis, 93 percent said the Temple Mount was important or very important “as Jerusalem,” and among Palestinians this rose to 99 percent. While hopes for peace have not entirely vanished, Trump did demolish one component of his own peace process strategy: postponing negotiations on Jerusalem and refugees to a later stage in the peace process.

Source: Washington Post December 08, 2017 15:56 UTC