Blog #2 Trump Receives Backlash After Tweet

Chief Palestinian Negotiator Sae Erekat

·                On March 22, 2019 the Haaretz released an article titled, “Trump's Golan Recognition Will Cause Bloodshed, Top Palestinian Negotiator Warns ,” written by Jack Khoury. The article discussed the backlash President Trump received from Middle Eastern leaders in regards to a tweet he posted last Thursday recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over Golan Heights. Golan Heights currently occupied Israeli territory and has occupied the area since the victorious war of 1967 against Syria. Following the annex of Golan heights the United Nations came up with the UN resolution 497, which was adopted in 1981 by the Security Council to resolve the issue but Israel never complied.

            Saeb Erekat, chief chairmen of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) suggested that this statement could lead to destabilization and bloodshed in the Middle East. The Egyptian foreign minister stated that the international community should honor its stance preventing Israel’s sovereignty over Golan. Meanwhile, Druze leaders called Trumps announcement, “a delusional declaration of a delusional man.” This insisted that his statement changed nothing and that it was meant to help Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu politically. Hamas weighed in stating, “Trump's remarks constitute a blatant violation of the international law and contradict the stance of the international community.” Other Arab organizations and factions believe that Trumps support for Israel and attitude toward Arab nations shows the U.S is bias and in favor of Israel.

Golan Heights(Israeli Occupied)

 The overall tone for Trump taking to Twitter posting exactly this "After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel's Sovereignty [sic] over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability [sic]!'' has been condemned and said to be irrelevant, illegal, and does not change the reality at hand. As a result, Dmitry Apartzev, the mayor of the largest city of Golan, expressed great joy and gratitude for president Trump’s supportive words.  

             The author of the article Jack Khoury covers Palestinian news frequently, explaining his extensive background on this region. The article appropriately cites relevant authorities such as, Druze leaders, Hamas,  Saeb Erekat,  Palestine Liberation Organization, and Arab League. Incorporates quotes from some of them and gives links to further study these, organizations, factions, or people. Although different points of view are represented in this article, it is safe to say the author did a poor job balancing out what people with an opposite opinion had to say. Dmitry Apartzev was the only citation in favor of Trumps recognition and there was no links associated with his statements as opposed to the others.

 Kourey gave a detailed explanation about the backlash that was received by President Trump’s tweet. The author clearly focused more on the negativity of the post rather than the positive. Starting with the bias title of the article, “Trump’s Golan Recognition Will Cause Bloodshed”, any reader can see the negativity following Trump’s actions.  Throughout the article Kourey quoted many Arab leaders, and only included one Israeli quote that demonstrated positivity. It is evident that the author has already established his opinion on President of the United States. This statement can be supported through further research on this author and his previous article titles.  Doing further research on the author I found that most of his articles start with a title showing favoritism towards the Palestinian people and against Israeli’s. For example some of his previous work are titled   Two Gazans Said Killed by Israeli Army Gunfire in Border Protests and Arab League to Aid Palestinian Authority After Israel Withholds Tax Money. Points like these give a clear give away of the stance this author has.