U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel led to a wave of popular resentment, provided a new push in diplomacy and reintroduced the Palestinian cause to debate on the Arab and Islamic fronts and at the level of regional and global organisations and agencies. The Palestinian cause has always been the central cause for Arabs and has dominated Arab policies and shaped Arab relations with others for decades. It seemed that interest in this cause had deteriorated amid the Arab Spring and the various regional crises. However, it has now returned to the surface under the title “the deal of the century”. With it, all of the portfolios that had not been resolved by negotiations since Oslo and Madrid have been reopened. What are the ramifications of the U.S. decision on Jerusalem? How will this decision affect the issues of peace, Jerusalem, refugees and the two-state solution? What are the nature and limits of the roles played by the parties involved in the arrangements of this “deal of the century”?
