Formal U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has not spawned the intense violence from the Arab and Muslim street that was commonly predicted. But the question remains whether, as President Donald Trump’s critics say, it will damage prospects for peace and forfeit America’s status as an “honest broker.” Trump has declared that he is not only honoring a campaign promise and acknowledging an indisputable reality but also making peace likelier.

It’s remarkable that so many commentators offer thoughts on how to promote global peace without showing any understanding of why the parties are fighting. So, let’s be clear on why there is an Arab-Jewish conflict over Palestine — and why it has lasted for more than a century.

At the heart of the matter is the conviction that all of Palestine, like all of the rest of the Middle East, belongs exclusively to the Arabs and it is an unendurable and uncompromisable injustice for Jews to exercise sovereignty on Arab land.

Polls show that most Israelis have for decades been willing to make peace with the Palestinians based on dividing the land now under Israeli control. If Palestinian leaders were willing to make a permanent land-for-peace deal, there could be peace. The two great barriers are conceptual. Palestinian leaders have to abandon the belief that Israel is a temporary thing that can someday be eliminated. And they have to set aside abstract notions of justice in favor of the practical question of what’s the best deal available to them.

Read the full article by Douglas J. Feith about global peace from the Hudson Institute