US president Donald Trump on Thursday signed an edict delaying the fulfillment of his previous campaign pledge to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Occupied Jerusalem for six months.
The White House said Trump would study the embassy relocation pledge he had made during his election campaign in order to avoid a step that would complicate his efforts to restart long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and trigger widespread violence in the occupied territories.
However Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper claimed that Trump is committed to fulfilling his pledge to move the embassy but sees the time not appropriate for such step.
Trump who pledged during the 2016 presidential campaign to move the embassy chose instead to continue his predecessors’ policy of signing a six-month waiver overriding a 1995 law requiring that the embassy be transferred to Jerusalem.
Palestinians argue that moving the embassy from Tel Aviv would prejudge one of the most sensitive issues in the conflict which is the status of Jerusalem and thus undermine the US position as an effective mediator.
They hope to make east Jerusalem the capital of their future state and have strong support from the international community.
