Trump pushes US Embassy move in Israel amid outcry
Story highlights
- Criticism from Palestinians and Arab nations is rising
- Trump's team is doubling down on plans to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem
Washington (CNN)The
incoming Trump administration has told allies it is moving ahead with
plans to relocate the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem --
even as those countries issue stark warnings of the potential impact
and the Palestinians and Arab nations are escalating calls not to do it.
In Israel, where officials
have lobbied countries for years to move their diplomatic missions to
Jerusalem, which Israel claims as its capital, there is speculation a US
announcement could be made as early as May 24 -- "Jerusalem Day" in
Israel, a celebratory national holiday. That date comes just days before
a waiver signed by President Barack Obama blocking the move expires.
While
some diplomats said there are signs President-elect Donald Trump may
pull back from his campaign pledge, Arab and European allies have warned
the incoming administration that the move could unleash further
violence, undermine the peace process, damage US standing in the Middle
East, and endanger American personnel.
"It's
very dangerous," said a European diplomat. "Chances for the peace
process are going very quickly -- it's now or never. Violence is always a
concern and, at this point, it's probably easy for Palestinians to
demonstrate their frustration."
Jerusalem
is already something of a tinderbox, with the most recent violence
coming Sunday afternoon, when a Palestinian drove a truck into a crowd
of Israeli soldiers, killing four.
Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas has written to Trump to say an embassy move
would have a calamitous impact on the chances for peace.
And he warned in a recent speech that "any statement or position that
disrupts or changes the status of Jerusalem is a red line which we will
not accept."
Abbas has followed up
with written pleas to the leaders of Russia, China, France, Germany, the
United Kingdom, the Arab League and others asking them to stop Trump.
Secretary of State John Kerry issued his own warning, telling CBS
last week that if the US moves its embassy to Jerusalem, "you'd have an
explosion -- an absolute explosion in the region, not just in the West
Bank and perhaps even in Israeli itself, but throughout the region."
State Department
officials, speaking anonymously so they can express themselves freely,
said they fear the move will lead to security problems for US diplomatic
missions and troops throughout the Middle East, create friction in US
relationships with countries across the region, and cause even deeper
rifts between Israelis and Palestinians.
The European diplomat said the US's long-standing role as an honest broker is also at stake.
"If
the US changes its policy so dramatically, then it's very easy for
others to dismiss their role and leadership in the peace process by
saying, well, now the Americans are so closely aligned with Israel, it's
hard for us to take them as brokers," the diplomat told CNN.
That
diplomat's country, like the US under previous administrations, wants
to wait to move its embassy to Jerusalem, which Palestinians also claim
as their capital, until final peace talks between Israelis and
Palestinians.
"We're always said we're fine with moving our embassy to Jerusalem when there's an agreement in place," the diplomat said.
This
diplomat echoed others from Europe in saying that the Trump transition
team has been very clear in talks that its priority is helping Israel
"in whatever terms Israel would like to be helped and if they prefer the
embassy in Jerusalem, why not?"
US
allies point out that if the embassy move takes place, it will matter
where exactly it goes. West Jerusalem would be less problematic than if
it's placed in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians could see as an
annexation by Israel.
"If it's
moved into East Jerusalem, the Palestinians would certainly view it as a
provocative move," said another European diplomat.
The Trump team has offered no specifics on when or where the embassy would move, but Trump has said he'd like it to happen soon.
In
a speech to the pro-Israel lobby group American Israel Public Affairs
Committee in March, Trump said he wanted to "move the American embassy
to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem." In a subsequent
TV interview, he said the move would happen "fairly quickly."
The Trump team didn't respond to CNN's request for comment.
US
officials told CNN one option would be to simply switch signs on the
embassy in Tel Aviv and the smaller US consulate in Jerusalem -- but the
embassy is so much larger, that would require some sort of immediate
expansion of the consulate to accommodate the additional staff.
The US already owns part of a property in Western Jerusalem that could serve as a home to a future embassy there.
The
Israeli Ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer, has said an embassy move
would be "a strong message against the delegitimization of Israel and of
Jerusalem as the Israeli capital." Dermer, who has support on Capitol
Hill, said that a move "would be a great step forward to peace."
The
1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act calls on the US to recognize Jerusalem as
Israel's capital and relocate the embassy there. But the law allows for
the move to be waived if the President deems it harmful to US national
security interests.
Since it
passed, every US president -- Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack
Obama -- has signed the waiver every six months, even though Bush and
Clinton had promised to move the embassy during their presidential
campaigns.
Earlier this month,
Obama renewed a presidential waiver delaying the move for another six
months, citing "national security interests."
It
is unclear whether the incoming administration or Congress could
overturn that waiver before it expires on June 1. To pressure Trump to
make good on his promise, a trio of Republican senators have introduced a
bill that would strike language allowing presidents to use the waiver
-- and would halve the budget for embassy security worldwide until a
move takes place.
"Jerusalem is
the eternal capital of the Jewish state of Israel, and that's where
America's embassy belongs," said one of the sponsors, Florida Republican
Senator Marco Rubio. "It's time for Congress and the president-elect to
eliminate the loophole that has allowed presidents in both parties to
ignore U.S. law and delay our embassy's rightful relocation to Jerusalem
for over two decades."
With the
six-month extension signed by Obama expiring on June 1, Israeli sources
have suggested the May 24 Israeli holiday Jerusalem Day as a possible
date for relocating the embassy. That national holiday commemorates the
reunification of Jerusalem and the establishment of Israeli control over
the Old City following the June 1967 Six Day War and typically is
marked by ceremonies and memorial services.
But
the extension could give the incoming administration time to rethink
the consequences of its decision and find a face-saving way to back out.
Diplomats suggested once the administration is in office for a few
months, the realities of chaos in the Middle East and the need not to
alienate US Arab allies may cause a newly minted President Trump to sing
a different tune.
Last month, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman played down the crucial nature of immediately relocating the embassy.
"We've
seen this promise (from US presidential candidates) in every election,"
Lieberman noted during remarks at the Saban Forum. "It's very important
but we have other issues."
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