Jerusalem decision skirts some capital- size questions
On maps, passports, the ancient city is stateless
WASHINGTON – President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on Wednesday— but on Thursday, State Department officials stopped short of saying whether the U. S. believes that Jerusalem is actually in Israel.
That seemingly contradictory policy demonstrates just how difficult it will be for the Trump administration to implement what the president called a “recognition of reality.”
Trump’s decision to move the U. S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem upended decades of American foreign policy, delighted conservatives in both countries, ignited protests in the West Bank and cast the future of peace talks into doubt.
But it also left any number of political, diplomatic and practical issues unresolved: How will U. S. passports identify people born in Jerusalem? How will the city appear on maps? What’s the future of the Consulate General in Jerusalem? And where will the U. S. pay for and build a new embassy in a city where historic, political and security considerations so often intersect?
All those questions may be beside the point.
“It’s pretty clear the embassy is not going to move to Jerusalem in the foreseeable future, so it’s amoot point for the time being,” said James B. Cunningham, a former U. S. ambassador to Israel and a fellow at the Atlantic Council. “The political situation will outrun the technical details of how to move the embassy in the long run.”
For now, State-Department officials said, there will be no practical change in how the U. S. deals with the city’s status.
A 2015 Supreme Court decision, for example, upheld the long- standing practice of omitting the country on passports for people born in Jerusalem, effectively giving it a stateless status. That won’t change, officials said.
“There has been no change in our policy with respect to consular practice or passport issuance at this time,” acting Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield said Thursday. U. S. government maps also won’t change for now, he said.
“The president’s decision speaks for itself,” he said. “He didn’t go beyond that, and I’m not going to go beyond that.”
While Israel sees Jerusalem as its undivided and “eternal” capital, the Palestinians also claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
Previous presidents have said that the decision on Jerusalem’s capital must come froma negotiated agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians.
But even after Trump’s decisive foreign policy pronouncement, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert declined to saywhat country Jerusalem is in.
“What country was the president in when he prayed at the Western Wall?” an Associated Press reporter asked.
“We’re not taking any position on the overall boundaries. We are recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” Nauert responded. “There are some questions that you will rightfully have about passports, for example, about maps. Some of those things we are still working out.”