Embassy rethink

The Trump administration is expected to approve a plan to move the United States embassy in Israel to Jerusalem as early as next year, rather than waiting for several years, officials said yesterday. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been considering several options since US President Donald Trump last year declared Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital and said the US would move its embassy there from Tel Aviv. Tillerson has said that the process will take at least three years, but a temporary plan presented to Tillerson would see an existing US consular building in West Jerusalem designated as the interim embassy until the new one was built, three officials said. Under the most likely scenario, US ambassador David Friedman and a handful of top aides and support staff would open temporary offices possibly as early as April.