US President Donald Trump’s administration indicated on Sunday that discussions to move the American embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem were “at the very beginning stages,” as Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly shared a “very warm” phone call, Israeli media reported.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a press conference that details regarding Trump’s controversial campaign promise to move the embassy would be shared “soon,” without providing further details, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
The announcement came the same day as Trump and Netanyahu held their first phone call since Trump took office, in which Trump reportedly expressed to Netanyahu his support of direct bilateral negotiations as the “only” means to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, pledging that “the United States will work closely with Israel to make progress towards that goal,” Haaretz reported.
This is the Trump effect in Palestine: Israel has announced plans to build hundreds of new homes in illegal settlements. pic.twitter.com/BLwDak4BkY
— AJ+ (@ajplus) January 23, 2017
The White House said in a statement that Trump expressed the importance of “close military, intelligence, and security cooperation with Israel,” without mentioning whether the embassy move was a topic of conversation during the phone call.
The prospect of an embassy location change has been met with applause by right-wing Israeli officials and strongly condemned by Palestinians and the international community.
The move would in effect amount to American recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, effectively torpedoing efforts to implement a two-state solution with East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state.
White House in early stages of discussing Israel embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem per Trump's pledge https://t.co/akGDbSiS71 pic.twitter.com/RWYEEsCDex
— Al Jazeera News (@AJENews) January 23, 2017
The fate of Jerusalem has been a focal point of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades, with numerous tensions arising over Israeli threats regarding the status of non-Jewish religious sites in the city, and the “Judaization” of East Jerusalem through settlement construction and mass demolitions of Palestinian homes.
The Israeli government has openly expressed its anticipation for a Trump presidency when right-wing politicians believe they will more easily advance plans to expand Israeli settlements and consolidate Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem and other parts of the West Bank.
The now Republican-dominated US congress already introduced a bill that would move the US embassy to Jerusalem, as Republicans control both the Senate and House of Representatives for the first time since 2007. The US House of Representatives meanwhile approved a bipartisan resolution rejecting UN Resolution 2334, which strongly denounced Israel’s illegal settlement building in occupied Palestinian territory, and stated its unwavering commitment and support for the state of Israel.
(Ma’an, PC, Social Media)
