Sadly, while most of the Arab countries were edging ever closer to Israel in recent years because of their common enemy Iran, the result of these elections will certainly deter further improvement of relations between Israel and Arab states. As a result, Israel’s regional isolation will only increase. Moreover, Israel’s very democracy, which has for past few years been teetering on the edge, is now poised to fall.

Despite the immediate headlines, Trump’s tweet has little significance for the Heights. The international community, including the UN, is not going to shift its position on their status. And, while Netanyahu may be boosted, the Israeli presence will continue to depend on the strength of arms, the expansion of settlements and the acceptance of actors such as Russia.

Trump’s move helps Israel maintain the status quo. Yet while there were no negotiations to determine the fate of the Golan Heights, Trump’s decision is widely perceived as an impediment to regional peace.

In 2018, the US adjusted its political and financial support for the Palestinian Authority (PA) and put the Palestinian leadership under pressure to join the US-led peace process with Israel.

With general elections set for April 2019, he has emerged as the only candidate with a real chance of unseating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Moreover, electing Gantz represents a first step toward reversing the country’s drift to the right, leaving the elaboration of policies and plans for the new, centrist government coalition.

In Zionists’ eyes, these areas – and in particular East Jerusalem – should never be relinquished. In Israeli politics, Jerusalem is commonly referred to as the ‘eternal and indivisible’ capital of Israel. To reinforce these words, Israel has since the 1970s implemented an aggressive settlement policy. Apart from the settlements in the hills of the West Bank, some 200,000 Jews have also settled in East Jerusalem, under the authority of successive Israeli governments. Several hundred Jewish fanatics have even cracked houses in the Muslim and Christian neighbourhoods of the Old City.

More aggressive to US enemies, arguably more erratic with US allies and with the financial benefit to the US at the centre of his foreign policy, Trump’s involvement in the Middle East has not been a stabilizing factor in one of the most turbulent periods of the region’s recent history. With at least two years left in the White House, it is too early to say what his lasting legacy in the Middle East will be, but the signs do not point to a positive one.

Since late 20th century together with other Oriental Orthodox churches, the Armenian Apostolic Church is taking an active part in religious dialogues with both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches in order to resolve doctrinal differences dating back to the Council of Chalcedon. They have been able to resolve many of these historical differences.

In the case of Khan al-Ahmar, the threat of demolition serves yet another goal, that of expanding settlements. The Bedouin village is situated in an area Israel has designated as ‘E1’, the largest planned settlement in the West Bank. With the Bedouins removed, Israel can control the entire centre part of the West Bank, from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, and could cut the territory in half, denying Palestinians the possibility to travel from north to south or vice versa.

Since East Jerusalem is a military occupied territory, Israel has an obligation under international law to not make changes to the land, except that which is in the benefit of the occupied people, who under law are a ‘protected people’. These excavations, as well as the planned cable car, can be classified as part of Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise.”