Intriguing headline

I found the lead headline in your December 4 edition rather intriguing (“Trump undecided on declaring J’lem as Israel’s capital”).

Indeed! Who declared Washington the capital of the United States (after Philadelphia had served as a temporary one) if not the United States itself? The French, and no one else, declared Paris their capital, as Italians did Rome and the Germans Berlin.

Just as those countries decided which city would serve as their capital and all – yes, all – other countries accepted their decision, so Israel decided that its capital is and will be Jerusalem, as it has been from time immemorial, since the days of King David, son of Jesse. And as the world’s nations recognize each other’s capitals, so should they recognize ours. RHEA ISRAEL Rehovot

The news that US President Donald Trump aims to eventually transfer the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem has been warmly greeted in Israel. The key question is: What does the move signify?

Will it denote that Washington recognizes all of Jerusalem as the united capital of Israel? Or will it mean that the United States recognizes west Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, with east Jerusalem undesignated at this point?

If it’s the latter, Israel will have to ask itself whether the move would be a positive or retrograde step. SHLOMO SLONIM

Jerusalem The writer is James G. McDonald Professor of American History, emeritus; former chairman of the Department of American Studies in the Faculty of Humanities at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and author of Jerusalem in America’s Foreign Policy.