Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli's Defence Minister
Avigdor Lieberman urged Trump to grasp a "historic opportunity." PHOTO |
POOL | LARRY DOWNING | AFP
WASHINGTON,
Facing dark
warnings of a historic misstep and widespread unrest, US President
Donald Trump on Monday delayed a decision on whether to recognise
Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and move the US embassy there.
The
White House said Trump would miss a deadline to decide on shifting the
embassy from Tel Aviv, after a frantic 48 hours of public warnings from
allies and private phone calls between world leaders.
DECISION
The
mercurial president has yet to make his final decision, officials said,
but is expected to stop short of moving the embassy to Jerusalem
outright, a central campaign pledge which has been postponed once
already by the new administration.
"The
president has been clear on this issue from the get-go: It's not a
matter of if, it's a matter of when," said White House spokesman Hogan
Gidley, who said a declaration on the move would be made "in the coming
days."
Domestic politics may however
push Trump toward recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital instead, in a
gesture towards conservative voters and donors.
The
status of Jerusalem is a key issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
with both Israelis and Palestinians claiming the city as their capital.
With
Trump's decision looming, leaders from across the Middle East and
elsewhere ramped up public warnings against any shift in decades-old US
policy.
FRANCE
French
President Emmanuel Macron was among those who warned Trump that
Jerusalem's status must be decided "within the framework of negotiations
between Israelis and Palestinians."
Amid
internal White House disagreements, several US administration officials
were unable or unwilling to say with certainty what Trump would decide.
"The president's going to make his decision," his Middle East peace envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner said.
Israeli's defence minister Avigdor Lieberman urged Trump to grasp a "historic opportunity."
But from elsewhere in the region the message was clear: don't do it.
"If
the status of Jerusalem is changed and another step is taken... that
would be a major catastrophe," Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir
Bozdag said.
DELAY
"It would completely destroy the fragile peace process in the region, and lead to new conflicts, new disputes and new unrest."
All
foreign embassies are located in Tel Aviv with consular representation
in Jerusalem, and Trump was theoretically due Monday to decide whether
to sign a legal waiver delaying by six months plans to move the US
embassy from the Holy City — as successive administrations have done at
regular intervals for more than two decades.
"The president is still considering options," a State Department official said when asked about a possible move.
Trump is expected to begrudgingly sign the waiver for a second time at some point this week.
According
to diplomats and observers, however, he may also make a speech on
Wednesday announcing his support for Israel's claim on Jerusalem as its
capital.
The Arab League said it was
closely following the matter, with leader Abul Gheit warning any such
move would pose a threat "to the stability of the Middle East and the
whole world."
PEACE
"It
will not serve peace or stability, instead it will nourish fanaticism
and violence," he said on Sunday, noting that the League was closely
following the issue and would coordinate a joint position with
Palestinian and Arab leaders if Trump took the step.
Jordan's
Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi also warned that any change to the status
of Jerusalem would have "grave consequences", in a phone conversation
with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday.
It
was crucial, he said, "to preserve the historical and legal status of
Jerusalem and refrain from any decision that aims to change that
status," the official Petra news agency reported.
In
1995, the US Congress passed the so-called Jerusalem Embassy Act
recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital and stating that the US
embassy should be moved there.
But an
inbuilt waiver, which allows the president to temporarily postpone the
move on grounds of "national security", has been repeatedly invoked by
successive US presidents, from Bill Clinton to George W. Bush and Barack
Obama, meaning the law has never taken effect.
ARABS
Israel
seized the largely-Arab eastern sector of Jerusalem during the 1967
Six-Day War and later annexed it, claims both halves of the city to be
its "eternal and undivided capital."
But
the Palestinians want the eastern sector as capital of their promised
state and fiercely oppose any Israeli attempt to extend sovereignty
there.
Several peace plans have come
unstuck over debates on whether, and how, to divide sovereignty or
oversee the sites holy to Christians, Jews and Muslims.
Palestinian
leaders have been lobbying regional leaders to oppose any shift in US
policy and the armed Islamist movement Hamas has threatened to launch a
new "intifada."
Saeb Erakat,
secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, warned that a
change in the US stance on Jerusalem would spell disaster, and would
amount to an own goal for US peace efforts in the region.
He
said in a statement that Washington would "be disqualifying itself to
play any role in any initiative towards achieving a just and lasting
peace."
Trump has said he wants to relaunch frozen peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians in search of the "ultimate deal".
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