‘ Trump mulls calling Jerusalem Israel’s capital’ Palestine warns US of stern actions

Washington, Dec. 1: ( AP) President Donald Trump is considering recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a highly charged declaration that risks inflaming tensions across the Middle East, officials said on Friday.

The announcement would be a way to offset a likely decision delaying his campaign promise to move the US Embassy to the holy city from Tel Aviv.

Mr Trump’s announcement is expected next week and follows months of internal deliberations that grew particularly intense in recent days, according to officials familiar with the talks.

They described the president as intent on fulfilling his pledge to move the embassy but also mindful that doing so could set back his aim of forging a long- elusive peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, who claim part of Jerusalem as the capital of an eventual state.

The officials, who weren’t authorised to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the outlines of Mr Trump’s plan emerged from a meeting of his top national security advisers at the White House on Monday.

Mr Trump himself was expected to drop by the meeting for 15 or 20 minutes. He ended up staying for at least an hour and grew increasingly animated during the session, according to two officials briefed on what happened.

The White House also is considering a possible Ramallah, Dec. 1: The Palestinian President’s office warned Friday of the potential destructive effects of any move denying their claim to east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

The statement comes as US President Donald Trump is due to decide by Monday on whether to move his country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city.

The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state and fiercely oppose any changes that could be regarded as legitimising Israel’s occupation and annexation of it.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said any just solution in the Middle East required recognition of east Jerusalem as the capital of an independent Palestinian state. — AFP

presidential speech or statement on Jerusalem by Wednesday, according to the officials and an outside administration adviser.

Another possibility involves vice president Mike Pence, who is set to travel to Israel in midDecember, making the Jerusalem announcement during his trip, one official said. AP