Tensions surrounding the U.S. recognition, or lack thereof, of the Western Wall as Israeli territory became an issue because President Trump, who will be visiting Israel next week, wants to visit the Western Wall privately, without Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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The president also has been slow to officially move the USA embassy to Jerusalem, a promise he made multiple times on the campaign trail.
United States president Donald Trump says that it is still premature to talk about moving the USA embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and about construction restrictions in the West Bank.
Trump is scheduled to travel to Bethlehem, located in the Palestinian Authority, where he will visit the Christian holy site the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and will visit the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, the first sitting president to do so. Administration officials have since dodged the specific question of whether or not the USA recognizes the Western Wall as part of Israel, though legally speaking the answer has always been no.
Since 1995, all American presidents have chosen to walk the same fine line on the issue after Congress passed a directive calling on the United States to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move its embassy there.
Israel also has expressed concern about the $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia that Trump announced Saturday in Riyadh.
“The two-state solution that ensures the creation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital is the sole solution”.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have not had substantive direct talks since 2010.
“I love the people in Israel”, he said.
President Trump will stay in a hotel suite built to withstand virtually any threat, including a building collapse, during his upcoming visit to Jerusalem.
A number of Republican congressmen at the event alluded to McMaster’s refusal to name the Western Wall as Israeli territory and called for moving the embassy to Jerusalem.
On the eve of President Trump’s first overseas trip, an unfortunate dispute has emerged over the question, “whose wall is it?” The remarks were met with “astonishment” on the part of the Prime minister’s office and an immediate explanation was demanded.
Netanyahu says he is ready to resume negotiations without preconditions, but Abbas insists that there must be an end-game.
“We all hope to see the USA embassy in Jerusalem but it is no less important to see a renewal of construction in Judea and Samaria after years of stagnation under the previous administration”, Hotovely said, using the biblical name for the lands commonly known as the West Bank and drawing a sharp contrast between Trump and his predecessor, Barack Obama.
The meetings will focus on the U.S. efforts to revive the long-stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
“Since the 1970’s, every administration has taken a weaker and weaker position towards the [Israeli] settlements”, Chomsky said in an interview with Arab American Institute Deputy Director Omar Baddar. “To avoid past mistakes, we want an Israeli government that wants to sit at the table and discuss a map [showing] the borders of Palestine as well as other issues”, Erekat stated.
A man cycles past signs bearing the name of U.S. President-elect Republican Donald Trump in Tel Aviv, Israel November 14, 2016. The official also said a final decision has not yet been reached.
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That stunned the Palestinians but delighted Netanyahu, who heads a right-wing coalition with pro-settler parties that strongly oppose a Palestinian state.
