One hundred years ago today the British World War One Near
East offensive against the Ottoman Turks reached Jerusalem on its way north. General Edmund Allenby famously dismounted and with his
officers modestly entered the holy city on foot through the Jaffa Gate, the entry
way of the pilgrims of past centuries.
During this military campaign Allenby commanded T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence
of Arabia”), who was the British liaison to and motivator of the Arab desert fighters against their common enemy, the Turks.
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| Allenby Entering Jerusalem on December 11, 1917 |
In one of those small but telling coincidences of history,
President Donald Trump has just announced that the United States is formally recognizing
Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which it is in fact, and will move the US
embassy there. This move comports with
the previously-stated positions of Presidents William Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack
Obama, and also of the United States Senate, which in 1995 passed the Jerusalem
Embassy Act by massive majorities in the Senate (93-5) and House (374-37) and
which just this past June passed a resolution 90-0 reaffirming the American
position that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. President Trump continues to move forward, in
a show of strength that will improve the chances of peace, in stark contrast to
his recent predecessors who were all talk and no action, and whose fecklessness
only led to more strife in a part of the world where, in the end, one can only
gain peace through strength.
R Balsamo
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