As clashescontinue on the Israel-Gaza border, the Trump administration is grappling with how to better foster peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.
News analyst Charlie Sennott joined Boston Public Radio to talk about recent violence and to explain how the U.S. has lost influence as a negotiating power in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“I think the United States blew it with moving the embassy,” he said. “We got nothing in return for moving our embassy, recognizing [Jerusalem] as the capital.”
Sennott explained that recognizing Jerusalem as the Israeli capital would have been a helpful bargaining chip during final status talks.
He said now, the U.S. lacks meaningful leverage to stop some of the more controversial Israeli policies, like settlement-building, that are alleged to impede the peace process.
“What the Trump administration may be experiencing now is that Netanyahu isn’t going to stop building settlements, Netanyahu is not going to stop going forward,” said Sennott.
He stressed that while Israel has a powerful historical claim to Jerusalem as a capital, the Trump administration could have waited until a peace agreement to validate that claim.
Sennott suggested the president and his foreign policy advisors might be out of their element.
“I just don’t think they have enough background there,” he said.
Charlie Sennott is a news analyst at WGBH, where he also heads up the GroundTruth Project.
