Home WebMail Saturday, November 2, 2024, 10:34 AM | Calgary | -2.8°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
Posted: 2017-12-05T17:25:23Z | Updated: 2017-12-05T21:36:02Z

WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM, Dec 5 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump told Arab leaders on Tuesday that he intends to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a decision that breaks with decades of U.S. policy and risks fueling violence in the Middle East.

Senior U.S. officials have said Trump is likely on Wednesday to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital while delaying relocating the embassy from Tel Aviv for another six months, though he is expected to order his aides to begin planning such a move immediately.

U.S. endorsement of Israels claim to all of Jerusalem as its capital would reverse long-standing U.S. policy that the citys status must be decided in negotiations with the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. The international community does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the entire city, home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordans King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi Arabias King Salman, who all received phone calls from Trump, joined a mounting chorus of voices warning that unilateral U.S. steps on Jerusalem would derail a fledgling U.S.-led peace effort and unleash turmoil in the region.

At the same time, a senior Israeli minister appeared to welcome Trumps decision on Jerusalem while vowing that Israel was preparing for any outbreak of violence.

Trump, who promised during the presidential campaign to move the embassy in Israel, will give a speech on Wednesday about his Jerusalem decision, said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders . The president I would say is pretty solid in his thinking at this point, she said, though she declined to provide details.