President Donald Trump has given the OK to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem which will finally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state. It is expected that on Wednesday he will direct the State Department to begin the process to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, sources said.
The decision, which is already being cheered by the President’s supporters and the Israeli government, is expected to roil the region, with US Arab allies warning Trump on Tuesday that it will undermine regional stability and stymie the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. Trump will sign a waiver delaying the embassy move for another six months to comply with the law, as senior administration officials said it will take years for the move to be completed.
The Trump administration on Tuesday cast the move, which Trump will announce Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET, as a “recognition of reality” that Jerusalem has long been the seat of the Israeli government. Officials stressed that the decision would have no impact on the boundaries of future Israeli and Palestinian states as negotiated under a final status agreement.
“It seems clear now that the physical location of the American embassy is not material to a peace deal. It’s not an impediment to peace and it’s not a facilitator to peace,” one senior administration official said. “After having tried this for 22 years, an acknowledgment of reality seems like an important thing.”
The embassy will stay in Tel Aviv for the time being but Trump is putting the rest of the region on notice that the US will no longer appease the Arab states in the region by refusing to recognize what has been the capital of Israel.
And while the Palestinians are calling for three days of rage, nothing has changed, and the US Embassy’s location has zero to do with the peace process.
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