FURY GREETS EMBASSY MOVE
Trump spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday to inform him of the decision and Abbas told him his government would not accept it.
“These condemned and unacceptable measures are a deliberate undermining of all efforts exerted to achieve peace and represent a declaration of the United States’s withdrawal from undertaking the role it has played over the past decades in sponsoring the peace process,” said Abbas Wednesday.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant Islamist group, which controls the Gaza Strip, accused Trump of “flagrant aggression” and called for Muslims across the Middle East to rise up against U.S. interests. U.S. embassies across the Middle East bolstered their security arrangements Tuesday night in anticipation of potentially violent protests.
Trump tried to placate Palestinian anger by saying his decision did not rule out the possibility of a two-state solution, where Jerusalem would be the capital of both Israel and an independent Palestinian state.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the president’s announcement, calling it “a historic day” and stating that his nation is “profoundly grateful for the president for his courageous and just decision.”
Theresa May was among world leaders who expressed concern about the move. “We believe it is unhelpful in terms of prospects for peace.
“The British Embassy is based in Tel Aviv and we have no plans to move it,” she said.
The Pope earlier said he had “deep concern” about the situation in Jerusalem and urged Trump not to move ahead.
Reaction was fierce from Turkey. Bekir Bozdag, the deputy prime minister, warned that Trump was “plunging the region and the world into a fire with no end in sight.” Recep Tayyip Erdogan, its president, called for a summit of Muslim leaders next week in Istanbul to discuss the situation.
In Washington, Trump drew bipartisan support on Capitol Hill from Republicans and some Democrats.
In a statement, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., called the announcement “an important step in the right direction” and added that “unequivocal recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital will be complete when the U.S. embassy is officially relocated there.”
Rep. Eliot L. Engel, N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the decision “helps correct a decadeslong indignity.”
Yet House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said that Trump’s move was premature and warned of “mass protests.”
White House aides emphasized that Trump’s decision would make clear to Middle East countries that the president, who campaigned on promises to move the embassy, keeps his word.