Recently, President Donald Trump announced that he was recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The act received widespread bi-partisan Congressional support and kudos from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, the announcement was met by Palestinian condemnation and by protests from some U.S. European allies such as France and other leaders in the Middle East. Protest demonstrations have raged throughout the region accounting for widespread injuries and some violent confrontations with police, according to news reports. Dr. Ziad Abu-Rish, an expert in modern Middle East History, Social Movements and Popular Protests and U.S. Middle Eastern policy, also directs the Middle East and North Africa Studies certificate program at Ohio University. He explains to the “Spectrum Podcast” the impact of Trump’s move on the region and how it alters an American policy that had been in place for 70 years. It also disturbs the delicate political balance in the area. He is convinced that the Trump action also has scuttled any chance for a two-party peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis in the foreseeable future. Dr. Abu-Rish states that Trump’s action legitimizes and endorses territory taken by the Israelis in war. He notes, in the past, that even the United Nations recognized both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as territory “occupied” by Israel (as a result of war). Although Jerusalem houses major religious icons for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Dr. Abu-Rish believes that Trump’s recognition of it as the Israeli capital has more political and structural significance than religious.