{"id":33034,"date":"2017-03-06T10:12:45","date_gmt":"2017-03-06T10:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/us-delegation-explores-moving-embassy-to\/"},"modified":"2017-03-06T10:12:39","modified_gmt":"2017-03-06T10:12:39","slug":"us-delegation-explores-moving-embassy-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/us-delegation-explores-moving-embassy-to\/","title":{"rendered":"US delegation explores moving embassy to Jerusalem"},"content":{"rendered":"

{Group led by Republican congressman learns ‘first hand’ what controversial move decried by Palestinians would mean.}<\/p>\n

A US delegation is in Israel exploring the possibility of relocating the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that Palestinian officials have strongly warned against.<\/p>\n

The delegation is led by Ron DeSantis, a Republican congressman, who is expected to meet Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, during the two-day trip which ends on Sunday.<\/p>\n

“The delegation is in Jerusalem to learn first hand what it will mean to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” said Ruth Lieberman, a friend of DeSantis and a political adviser in Israel, according to the Jerusalem Post.<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump repeatedly promised the move during his election campaign and pledged to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.<\/p>\n

Palestinians criticised such promises as they hope to make East Jerusalem the capital of their future state, and have had the broad support of the international community for that aspiration.<\/p>\n

Those who have cautioned the US against such a move include Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas and Nabil Shaath, former Palestinian foreign minister.<\/p>\n

Shaath in February told Al Jazeera: “Moving the embassy is the same as recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s united capital. It’s a war crime.”<\/p>\n

The US has two consulate-general buildings in West Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

One mainly deals with diplomacy with Palestinians, while another building issues visas to people who live in Jerusalem and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.<\/p>\n

“If the US were to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem … it would be effectively recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” said Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from West Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

“It would also be taking away from the Palestinians the separate recognition that these consulate general offices give them.”<\/p>\n

However, Trump’s administration – like those of other US presidents such as Bill Clinton and George Bush who made similar promises – has “been rolling back on the idea[s] … despite initial promises made during the campaign”, he said.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Trump’s embassy move to Jerusalem ‘self-destructive’<\/p>\n

According to some reports in Arab news media, Palestinian officials have been informed that the move is not likely to happen.<\/p>\n

“This is after advice from Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who suggested it would cause violence on the Arab streets,” said our correspondent.<\/p>\n

Other reports in Israeli news media suggest that David Friedman, the incoming US ambassador to Israel, might work out of an office in West Jerusalem as a compromise, while the embassy building would remain in Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

Friedman is known to be a supporter of Israel’s illegal Jewish-only settlements. <\/p>\n

“That also, though, would be controversial,” Al Jazeera’s Smith said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/figure>\n

Source:Al Jazeera<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Group led by Republican congressman learns ‘first hand’ what controversial move decried by Palestinians would mean.} A US delegation is in Israel exploring the possibility of relocating the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that Palestinian officials have strongly warned against. The delegation is led by Ron DeSantis, a Republican congressman, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[101],"byline":[160],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-33034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-48","tag-internationl","byline-theophile-niyitegeka"],"bylines":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"contributors":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33034"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=33034"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=33034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}