US President Donald Trump will not move the United States Embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in the near future.
Earlier this week, Trump signed the six-monthly presidential waiver to the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act citing his desire to maximise the chances of “negotiating a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians”.
An unnamed US official quoted by the 'Guardian' newspaper insisted, however, that Trump still intends to move the Embassy to the Israeli capital. “It’s a question of when, not if,” the official said, adding that the president “doesn’t think the timing is right, right now” and that “in timing such a move he will seek to maximize the chances of successfully negotiating a deal between Israel and the Palestinians.”
Since the act to move the Embassy was adopted by Congress in 1995, all presidents have renewed the waiver every six months for years. “No one should consider this step to be in any way a retreat from the president’s strong support for Israel and for the United States-Israel alliance,” the White House said.
“President Trump made this decision to maximize the chances of successfully negotiating a deal between Israel and the Palestinians, fulfilling his solemn obligation to defend America’s national security interests.”
In a statement, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that far from helping peace, the signing of the waiver would hamper it.
“Israel’s consistent position is that the American Embassy, like the embassies of all countries with whom we have diplomatic relations, should be in Jerusalem, our eternal capital. Maintaining embassies outside the capital drives peace further away by helping keep alive the Palestinian fantasy that the Jewish people and the Jewish state have no connection to Jerusalem.”
However, the news was welcomed by Palestinian officials as an “important positive step” that illustrated that the US was serious about promoting peace. The Palestinian ambassador to Washington, Hussam Zomlot, said the waiver “gives peace a chance”.
During his election campaign last year, Trump promised he would break with convention and move the US to Jerusalem, as Israel had long demanded.
