Jerusalem embassy to open in 2019
Vice President Mike Pence told Israel’s Parliament on Monday that the new U.S. embassy will open in Jerusalem next year, much sooner than previously expected.
JERUSALEM — Vice President Mike Pence told the Israeli parliament Monday that the United States will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem next year, far faster than the State Department had indicated when President Donald Trump decided last month to recognize the divided holy city as Israel’s capital.
By speeding up the embassy transfer, the White House signaled it was doubling down on its most provocative Middle East policy and would ignore Arab allies who have urged a more measured approach to the politically charged issue.
Trump’s Dec. 6 announcement stunned many world leaders and reversed decades of U.S. policy, which held that the status of Jerusalem should be decided in final Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Palestinians also claim part of Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent state.
“In the weeks ahead, our administration will advance its plan to open the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem — and that the United States Embassy will open before the end of next year,” Pence told the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.
“By finally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the United States has chosen fact over fiction — and fact is the only true foundation for a just and lasting peace,” he added.
Twelve Arab members and one Jewish member, who had said they would boycott Pence’s speech, stood and shouted when Pence began talking. Several held signs that read, in English and Arabic, “Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine.” Security personnel removed the protesters from the chamber.
State Department officials had said that finding a new embassy site, designing the compound and completing construction could take up to six years and cost $600 million to $1 billion to meet security concerns.
Pence’s remarks suggest the department will instead retrofit the U.S. Consulate in Arnona, a neighborhood in West Jerusalem, to serve as the embassy. The consulate now issues visa and offers consular services to Americans in Israel.
Pence, who is visiting Israel for two days after brief stops in Egypt and Jordan, received repeated standing ovations in the Knesset. The body is dominated by hard-right parties and supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
At one point, when Pence reiterated that the United States would support a two-state solution — the long-held diplomatic goal of Israel and an independent Palestine existing side by side — only leftist members of the Knesset rose to applaud. Netanyahu and the hard-right factions were silent.