Embassy shifting to take time: Tillerson
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Friday that the relocation of the US embassy to occupied Jerusalem would probably not take place for at least two years.
“This is not something that is going to happen this year or probably not next year, but the president does want us to move in a very concrete and steadfast way to ensure the embassy is located in Jerusalem when we’re able to do so, at the earliest possible time,” Tillerson said after talks in Paris with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
Listing the steps involved in moving the embassy from Tel Aviv, Tillerson said the United States needed to acquire a site, develop plans, receive congressional authorisation for the spending “and then actually building the embassy”.
He reiterated that the move was not intended to prejudge the outcome of future peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
“The president in his statement... did not indicate any final status for Jerusalem. In fact he was I think very clear that the final status, including the borders, would be left to the parties to negotiate and decide,” he added.
Tillerson also met President Emmanuel Macron, who has joined a host of world leaders in condemning the move.
US President Donald Trump rewound the video tape on Friday to show how three predecessors — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama — made promises on Jerusalem that they later backtracked on.
“I fulfilled my campaign promise — others didn’t!” he boasted on Twitter, posting a video montage of his predecessors to prove his point.
During their respective campaigns, both Clinton and Bush said they favoured moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, then changed their mind once in office.
Barack Obama never specifically addressed the question of moving the embassy but called Jerusalem “the capital of Israel”.
“As soon as I take office I will begin the process of moving the US embassy to the city Israel has chosen as its capital,” Bush said in a speech in 2000, excerpted on the montage.
An Israeli cabinet minister said on Friday the phrasing of Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital suggested an openness to eventual Palestinian control of part of the city, though he predicted Israel would oppose this.
“He even hinted that borders in Jerusalem will also be set as a result of negotiations, which presupposes an option of partition,” said Elkin, who holds the Jerusalem Affairs portfolio in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Elkin was referring to Trump’s caveat that the new US decision on Jerusalem did not constitute “taking a position of any final-status issues, including the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, or the resolution of contested borders”. — AFP, Reuters