President Donald Trump has signed the waiver keeping the United States embassy in Tel Aviv avoiding - for now - a controversial move to Jerusalem.
After announcing such a plan during the campaign, Trump this week signed the Jerusalem Recognition Act Waiver, delaying that move for at least six months. Trump was facing a Thursday deadline to renew the waiver or have the State Department lose half its funding for overseas facilities, AP reported.
"As someone who believes that Jerusalem is the undivided capital of Israel, I am deeply disappointed in President Trump's decision", the statement read.
A 1995 mandate from Congress directed that the USA embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel be relocated to Jerusalem no later than 1999 but the legislation included a caveat that the president could indefinitely delay the move by signing a six-month waiver, citing national security concerns.
The order the president signed waives an edict - the Jerusalem Embassy Act - passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1995, requiring that the embassy be relocated to Jerusalem.
"We are ready to start the consultation process with the USA administration".
Israeli officials, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have been urging Washington to move the embassy, a measure that would be seen as recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
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Addressing the problem, she said , will require "difficult, and often embarrassing, conversations". Armed cops brought all three down eight minutes after emergency services were first called.
In its statement, the Prime Minister's Office said that "Israel's solid stance on the matter is that the American embassy, like all other embassies, should be located in Jerusalem, Israel's eternal capital".
They hope to make East Jerusalem the capital of their future state, and have broad support from the worldwide community.
In doing so, Trump continues the policy of the previous three presidents and breaks an election promise he made to move the embassy to Jerusalem, the second president to break such a promise, after George W. Bush.
Israel has claimed the entire, undivided city of Jerusalem as its capital after taking control of the eastern portion of the city in the 1967 conflict.
One mainly deals with diplomacy with Palestinians, while another building issues visas to people who live in Jerusalem and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Trump says he wishes to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, and the first imperative for an honest broker is "do no harm". A spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said it's an "important positive step" and shows the U.S. is serious about promoting peace.
In a statement issued late Thursday, PA spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh described the move as "an important and positive step that will enhance the chances of achieving peace" between Israel and Palestine.
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