Move on hold for 6 months, or forever
LIKE SEVERAL commanders-in-chief before him, President Trump is expected to sign a six-month waiver on plans to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
Trump announced Wednesday that the U.S. will formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but the entire process is expected to take at least three or four years
In the meantime, Trump has to authorize a six-month delay as spelled out in the Jerusalem Embassy Act that Congress passed overwhelmingly in 1995 when Bill Clinton was in the White House.
The bill became law even after Clinton refused to sign it, saying the embassy shift would damage the delicate peace process.
Clinton signed off on a waiver, which allows the President to delay the move for six months if “such suspension is necessary to protect the national security interests of the United States.” The delay was used repeatedly by Clinton as well as former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Even Trump signed a waiver in June, upsetting the Israeli government, and disappointing supporters who said he was reversing himself on a campaign promise.
In Congress, the controversial measure was voted on 11 days before Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated after he spoke in Washington about how Jerusalem was the capital of the state of Israel.
“There are no two Jerusalems,” he said at a gathering touting the city’s 3,000 years of existence. “There is only one Jerusalem . . . . There is no peace without Jerusalem.”
In the years since, several different peace proposals pressed by the U.S. called for dividing Jerusalem’s Jewish and Arab neighborhoods.
But Trump has vowed to finally move the embassy, despite opposition from Arab countries and American allies.
Americans are against it by a 2-to-1 margin, according to a poll released in November. A DEFIANT PRESIDENT Trump announced his decision Wednesday to unilaterally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel — frustrating several world leaders who warned the move could throw the Middle East into chaos.
The decision, coupled with the promise to relocate the U.S. Embassy to the Holy City from Tel Aviv, marks a diplomatic sea change that breaks from nearly 70 years of American foreign policy.
“I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” Trump said from the White House, faulting his predecessors for not making the move sooner as conflict continued between Israelis and Palestinians.
“This is a long overdue step to advance the peace process and to work towards a lasting agreement,” he said, adding that the move is in the “best interest of the United States of America and the pursuit of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.”
Trump’s decision drew an immediate storm of criticism from Middle East and European leaders who fear it could trigger violent protests and upset tenuous peace plans.
Eight countries — including key U.S. allies Britain, France, Italy and Egypt — asked for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council this week about the decision. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that “unilateral measures” could jeopardize hopes for peace.
The European Union’s top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, said the move threatens a peaceful two-state solution.
“A way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as a future capital of both states,” she said.
The move put Israeli and Palestinian leaders on opposite sides.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Trump’s recognition an “important step toward peace.”
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said in a televised statement that Trump’s decision “is a declaration of withdrawal from the role it has played in the peace process.”
Trump’s decision breaks from America’s traditional efforts to remain neutral while Israel’s control of Jerusalem has been contested for decades.
“We cannot solve our problems by making the same failed assumptions and repeating the same failed strategies of the past,” Trump said, citing the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which passed Congress in 1995.
Trump’s predecessors used a loophole to waive it every six months.
The law recognizes Jerusalem as the capi-