Why is Jerusalem important, what makes Donald Trump's intervention so toxic

What is the status of Jerusalem?
Israel set up its parliament in West Jerusalem when the state of Israel was proclaimed in 1948. The move followed the United Nations’ vote to partition Palestine on the basis of the British pledge known as the Balfour Declaration that paved the way for a homeland for the Jewish people.
Israel occupied 78 percent of the land, with the remaining 22 percent split between Gaza and the West Bank.
Then, in 1967, during the Six-Day Arab-Israeli war, Israel annexed Arab-controlled East Jerusalem, including the Old City. Israel has claimed ever since that both parts of the city are its ‘undivided’ capital.
However, Palestinians want East Jerusalem as their capital. Most countries, including Britain, do not recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and keep their embassies in Tel Aviv.
Why is Jerusalem so important to both sides?
Chiefly because of its religious history. The Temple Mount in the Old City is the most sacred place in Judaism — the site of Solomon’s Temple said to have housed the Ark of the Covenant and destroyed in 586 BC by King of Babylon.
The site is also the third holiest shrine in Islam, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif (‘Noble Sanctuary’). It was the scene of Prophet Muhammad’s ‘Night Journey’ ascension from Earth to Heaven in 621. The compound includes Islamic shrines the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The city is also sacred to Christians — Jesus attended a temple in the Old City and was crucified on a hill outside its walls. But it also has hugely important implications for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
What has Donald Trump done and why is his intervention so toxic?
Until now, peacemakers have pursued the strategy that Jerusalem would be part of an overall negotiated settlement, with its status decided in the latter stages of peace talks, with agreement on both sides. But if America jumps to a conclusion on the city’s status now — and takes Israel’s side — many fear it will undermine the chances of a peace deal. It could also damage America’s position as an ‘honest broker’ between the two sides.
It does not take much to spark violence in the Middle East. In 2000, the Second Intifada — two bloody years of Palestinian suicide bombings and Israeli military killings — started after a visit by the then leader of the Israeli opposition, Ariel Sharon, to the Old City site.
How can the status of Jerusalem be peacefully resolved?
Jerusalem is described as the most intractable part of the world’s most intractable conflict. But one of the main planks of the peace process is a two-state solution — in which Jerusalem would serve as capital of both states: East Jerusalem for Palestine, West Jerusalem for Israel.
About a third of the people living in Jerusalem are Palestinians. An uneasy co-existence is lived out day-to-day, under the watchful eyes of clusters of armed Israeli police.
Though there is generally free movement around the divided capital, Israeli security forces set up checkpoints to seal off Palestinian neighbourhoods in times of tension, such as a wave of stabbings in 2015.
Since 1967, Israel has built a dozen settlements, home to about 200,000 Jews, in East Jerusalem. These are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
Jerusalem is governed by a mayor and city council whose members are elected to four-year terms. Palestinian Arabs living in East Jerusalem have the right to vote in Israeli elections, but most refuse to do so.
How does Trump justify moving the U.S. embassy?
The U.S. embassy is currently in Tel Aviv. To move it to Jerusalem would be a powerfully symbolic and inflammatory gesture in support of Israel and in defiance of Palestinians.
But technically Trump has a legal framework: in 1995, amid lobbying from pro-Israel Americans, the Republican-controlled Congress passed a law, the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which instructs the President to move the embassy. But all Presidents since Bill Clinton have signed a waiver every six months to prevent that happening.
So why has he done this now?
Mr Trump’s move seems driven not by diplomatic calculations, but by a campaign promise and his current low ratings.
In 2016, he appealed to Christian evangelicals and ardently pro-Israel American Jews by vowing to move the embassy. His pledge was extremely popular with these voters, including casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who donated $25 million to the Trump cause. Mr Adelson expressed anger when Mr Trump signed the waiver in June to keep the embassy in Tel Aviv. Advisers said this week Mr Trump was making good on his promise.
Why are all the Arab countries so hostile to the move?
Opinion polls show that at least 90 per cent of Arabs view Israel as their main enemy. So no Arab regime can risk provoking internal political upheaval by appearing to side with the U.S.
Mr Trump could now have catastrophically undermined his own Middle East strategy of trying to forge peace — not just between Israel and Palestinians, but also between Israel and Saudi Arabia’s Sunni Muslims.
He wants the Saudis to take on and curb the growing influence of Iran’s Shia Muslims — the Sunni’s mortal enemies — and their allies in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. The Saudis could now be forced to abandon their gradual clandestine move towards open acceptance of the Jewish state.
Do other countries recognise Jerusalem as the capital?
The world — including China — is virtually united in not recognising Israel’s claim to Jerusalem as its undivided capital.
One exception is the Pacific island of Vanuatu, which recognised it in May this year. Its late president, Baldwin Lonsdale, was an evangelical Christian who was described as having ‘a strong connection to the Jewish people and to Israel’.
Taiwan also considers Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. However, Israel does not even recognise Taiwan as a country.
Russia’s position is slightly ambiguous but seems to leave room for the city to be Israel’s capital in the event of a peace deal.