- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Trump to Move US Embassy to Jerusalem as Early as Next Year

© AFP 2023 / Jack GuezA picture taken on December 28, 2016 shows the US Embassy building in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv.
A picture taken on December 28, 2016 shows the US Embassy building in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv. - Sputnik International
Subscribe
The Trump administration has chosen a location for the new US embassy in Jerusalem and is planning to make the move by the end of 2019.

On Thursday, the New York Times reported that senior administration officials plan to retrofit the existing US consular building in Jerusalem into a temporary embassy instead of designing and building a new permanent embassy, which could take several years and cost as much as $1 billion. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem December 31, 2017 - Sputnik International
Netanyahu: US Embassy to Be Moved to Jerusalem 'Much Faster Than People Think'

The existing US consular facility is located in Arnona, a West Jerusalem neighborhood near the Green Line, the de facto border of Israel before the 1967 Six-Day War.
The consulate in Jerusalem is responsible for managing relations with the Palestinian Territories, since the US does not have a consular facility in Ramallah, the de facto capital city of the Palestinian city located in the central West Bank.

The Arnona site is a new and highly secure building, which will likely speed up the reconstruction process and allow US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and his staff members to move there next year. Although there exists a consular office west of the Old City, it is much smaller than the Arnona facility.

According to Arutz Sheva news, tensions have increased between US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Friedman regarding the timing of the move. According to officials, Friedman had pressed to move the embassy this year, with support from senior White House aide Jared Kushner. However, during a Thursday White House meeting, Tillerson convinced US President Donald Trump that more time was needed to enhance the facility's security. 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas - Sputnik International
'Jerusalem Is Not For Sale': Palestine Fires Back at Trump After Aid Threat

"What you'll see from the secretary is that we will do this at the pace of security, not at the pace of politics," Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy Steve Goldstein said.

Trump's announcement last month that the US considers Jerusalem Israel's capital and would move its embassy there was met with widespread indignation in the region and around the world, as Palestinians have long insisted that Jerusalem must be the capital of a Palestinian state. In a United Nations General Assembly vote in December, 128 countries denounced Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Earlier this week during his visit to India, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the US plans to relocate the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by the end of this year. However, in an interview with Reuters, Trump dismissed Netanyahu's comment.

"By the end of the year? We're talking about different scenarios," Trump told Reuters. "I mean obviously that would be on a temporary basis. We're not really looking at that. That's no."

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала