President Donald Trump on Wednesday reversed decades of U.S. policy and
recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, imperiling Middle East
peace efforts and upsetting the Arab world and Western allies alike.
Trump announced his administration would begin a
process of moving the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a step
expected to take years and one that his predecessors opted not to take
to avoid inflaming tensions.
The status of
Jerusalem – home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian
religions – is one of the biggest obstacles to reaching a peace
agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Trump’s announcement as a
“historic landmark,” but other close Western allies of Washington such
as Britain and France were critical.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the United
States abdicated its role as a mediator in peace efforts, and
Palestinian secular and Islamist factions called for a general strike
and rallies on Thursday to protest.
The
international community does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the
entire city, believing its status should be resolved in negotiations. No
other country has its embassy in Jerusalem.
Trump’s
decision fulfills a campaign promise and will please Republican
conservatives and evangelicals who make up a sizeable portion of his
domestic support.
“I have determined that it
is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,”
Trump said in a speech at the White House. “While previous presidents
have made this a major campaign promise, they failed to deliver. Today, I
am delivering.”
Trump’s decision risks further inflaming a region already grappling with conflict in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Protests
broke out in areas of Jordan’s capital, Amman, inhabited by Palestinian
refugees, and several hundred protesters gathered outside the U.S.
consulate in Istanbul.
The United States is
asking Israel to temper its response to Trump’s announcement because
Washington expects a backlash and is weighing the potential threat to
U.S. facilities and people, according to a State Department document
seen by Reuters.
Israel considers Jerusalem its eternal and
indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there. Palestinians
want the capital of an independent state of theirs to be in the city’s
eastern sector, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and
annexed in a move never recognized internationally.
Netanyahu
said any peace deal with Palestinians must include Jerusalem as
Israel’s capital. That would be a non-starter for Palestinians in any
negotiations if it meant the entire city would be under Israeli control.
Abbas on Wednesday called the city “the eternal
capital of the state of Palestine.” He said Trump’s decision was
tantamount to the United States abdicating its peace mediator role.
Jordan said Trump’s decision was “legally null.”
“I
think it’s pretty catastrophic, frankly,” said Hussein Ibish at the
Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, adding that “Trump did not
distinguish in any meaningful sense between West Jerusalem and occupied
East Jerusalem.”
Palestinian Islamist group Hamas accused Trump of a “flagrant aggression against the Palestinian people.”
Palestinians
switched off Christmas lights at Jesus’ traditional birthplace in
Bethlehem on Wednesday night to protest Trump’s move.
Trump has tilted U.S. policy toward Israel since taking office in January.
“He
cannot expect to side entirely with Israel on the most sensitive and
complex issues in the process, and yet expect the Palestinians to see
the United States as an honest broker,” said former U.S. Ambassador to
Israel Daniel Kurtzer.
Pope Francis called for
Jerusalem’s status quo to be respected. China and Russia expressed
concern the move could aggravate Middle East hostilities.
A statement from the Saudi Royal Court said the Saudi government had expressed “condemnation and deep regret” about the move.
A
spokesman for British Prime Minister Theresa May called the U.S.
decision “unhelpful in terms of prospects for peace in the region.”
The United Nations Security Council is likely to meet on Friday over Trump’s decision, diplomats said on Wednesday.
Trump
said his move was not intended to tip the scale in favor of Israel and
that any deal involving the future of Jerusalem would have to be
negotiated by the parties.
He insisted he was not taking a
position on “any final status issues, including the specific boundaries
of the Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, or the resolution of contested
borders.”
Reuters.