Israel offers Trump opportunity for Republican-Democrat reconciliation

No amount of Trump tweeting or political posturing can mask the damage done to President Trump's legendary deal-making ability following his failure to convince all Republican Party members in the House of Representatives to vote for the repeal of Obamacare and its replacement with Trumpcare.

Trump fared little better when the Senate confirmed Trump's nominee for US Ambassador to Israel – David Friedman - by 52 votes to 46. Only two Democratic senators – Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Joe Manchin of West Virginia supported Trump's choice.

Bitter partisan Democrat-Republican battlelines – fuelled by a hostile media following Trump's unanticipated electoral victory - increasingly threaten to undermine Trump's election promises to "drain the swamp" and "make America great again".

Israel however represents a real opportunity for Trump to unite Congress and repair the fractured Republican-Democrat relationship if Trump respects these following three bipartisan decisions:

1. Congress's overwhelming vote by 502 votes to 12:

Endorsing the written commitments made by President Bush to Israel's Prime Minister Sharon on 14 April 2004 to encourage Israel's unilateral disengagement from Gaza and part of the West Bank and give the Bush-Quartet Roadmap ("Roadmap") every chance of ending a conflict that had raged unresolved for 85 years.

Bush made the following commitments to Israel:

(i) To prevent any attempt by anyone to impose any plan other than the Roadmap.

(ii) Acknowledged that Israel must have secure and recognized borders, which should emerge from negotiations between Israel and the PLO in accordance with UNSC Resolutions 242 and 338.

(iii) Agreed in light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli populations centers, that it was unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations would be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949.

(iv) That the United States was strongly committed to Israel's security and well-being as a Jewish state.

2. Congress's resolution on 5 January 2017 by a vote of 342-80: