A groundswell of angry reactions have greeted the President Donald Trump’s planned signing of a waiver to a United States of America law that would set in motion a move of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump had promised to move US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that elicited joy from some Americans. Yet, in June he issued a waiver to a congressional requirement to move it.
In 1995, Congress mandated that the embassy be located in Jerusalem, but successive US presidents have signed repeated six-month waivers postponing the move for national security reasons.
Israel claims the whole of Jerusalem – which is home to sites sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians — as its capital. However, Palestinians aspire for East Jerusalem to become the capital of a future state.
Though no other country has a full embassy in Jerusalem, several maintain consulates-general in Jerusalem, prompting the international community’s determination to decide Jerusalem’s status by peace talks.
However, “We will share a decision on the waiver in coming days,” White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters on Monday aboard Air Force One as it returned the president from a visit to Utah.
. Trump advisers, led by Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, are hoping to unveil plans for a new peace process as soon as early 2018.
US officials have also been quoted in the US media as saying Mr. Trump may recognise Jerusalem as the capital this week, a statement that provoked swift angry reactions from Arab and Muslim leaders.
ANGRY REACTIONS
Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah have warned Donald Trump of the “dangerous” consequences of transferring the American embassy to Jerusalem after the US president informed the Palestinian and Jordanian leaders that he planned to move the mission.
Nabil Abu Rdainah, a Palestinian spokesman, said in a statement that Mr. Trump had notified Mr. Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority that he intended to move the embassy from Tel Aviv in a phone call on Tuesday. Such a decision would reverse decades of US policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and undermine Washington’s role as a broker in the peace process.
A palace statement said King Abdullah had similarly warned that the move “would have dangerous repercussions for the security and stability of the Middle East, that it would undermine the US administration’s efforts to resume the peace process, and hurt the feelings of both Christians and Muslims.”
It added: “His Majesty stressed that Jerusalem is the key to achieving peace and stability in the region and the world.” Jordan is one of only two Arab states with formal relations with Israel.
But even US allies have publicly warned about the dangers of recognising Jerusalem.
Saudi Arabia, an important US ally that does not have diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv but is widely believed to be moving closer to Israel, added its voice to regional concerns.
“The recognition will have serious implications and will be provocative to all Muslims,” the Saudi state news agency quoted an unnamed foreign ministry official as saying. “This will affect the US ability to continue its attempt of reaching a just solution for the Palestinian cause.”
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, joined regional leaders on Tuesday in declaring the status of Jerusalem as “a red line for the Muslim world.”
“We could go as far as cutting diplomatic ties with Israel” if the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, he said.
Turkey, a Nato member, is one of the few countries in the region that has open, if fraught, diplomatic relations with Israel.
Before now, Jordan’s government spokesman had warned of “catastrophic” repercussions if Donald Trump follows through on a campaign promise to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Such a move could affect relations between the US and regional allies, including Jordan, Information Minister Mohamed Momani told The Associated Press, addressing the issue publicly for the first time.
An embassy move would be a “red line” for Jordan, would “inflame the Islamic and Arab streets” and would serve as a “gift to extremists,” he said, adding that Jordan would use all possible political and diplomatic means to prevent such a decision.
France on Monday became the latest country to warn the U.S. against the embassy move, which would effectively recognize Israel’s claim to Jerusalem as its capital.
Regional bodies have also condemned any potential change to the status of Jerusalem, warning that it could stoke unrest.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the Arab League’s secretary-general, said it would “fuel extremism and a resort to violence”.
Rival Palestinian factions — Mr Abbas’s Fatah party and the Islamist Hamas group — have called for protests if Mr. Trump recognises Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. Hamas, which controls Gaza, said on its website that Ismail Haniyeh, the militant group’s leader, agreed with President Abbas that Palestinians should “mobilise” and express their rage on Wednesday.
However, Israeli officials have so far shaken off the concerns. Yair Lapid, a centre-right opposition, said on social media that Israel “needs to send a clear message to Mr Erdogan: don’t threaten us”.
“Jerusalem is our capital, and the time has come for the world to recognise it already,” he said. “The American embassy and the embassies of the rest of the world need to be located in Jerusalem.”
WAY FORWARD
Meanwhile, the US considers pro-Western Jordan an important ally in a turbulent Mideast. The Hashemite kingdom is a key member of a US-led military coalition against Islamic State extremists in neighboring Syria and Iraq, and maintains discreet security ties with Israel.
Mr. Trump spoke Tuesday with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister. In a statement, the White House said Mr. Trump “reaffirmed his commitment to advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and the importance of supporting those talks” in his calls with the three leaders.
Jerusalem’s holy sites are revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims, making the political disputes over it even more explosive. Its western half houses the Israeli parliament, Supreme Court and government headquarters, while the largely Arab eastern half was captured by Israel in the 1967 six-day war and annexed thereafter.
Jordan also has a stake in Jerusalem, serving as custodian of the Temple Mount holy site, revered by both Muslims and Jews.
Mr. Trump has promised to broker what he has described as the “ultimate” deal to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“The EU supports the resumption of a meaningful peace process towards a two-state solution. We believe that any action that would undermine this effort must absolutely be avoided,” Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said at a joint briefing with Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state.
“A way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of both states so that the aspirations of both parties can be fulfilled.”
