Active Pursuit of the U.S. Embassy Transfer Plan to Jerusalem

Mike Pence, the Vice President of the United States, stated that the country is "actively examining the timing and manner of transferring" the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. According to AFP, Mr. Pence spoke on Tuesday, December 7, at a ceremony in the Israeli political delegation, marking the seventieth anniversary of the UN resolution regarding the partition of the disputed land into two states for Jews and Palestinians. Mr. Pence's remarks referred to the U.S. government's efforts to implement one of Donald Trump's key electoral promises. During his campaign, Mr. Trump had even claimed he would sign the order to transfer the embassy to Jerusalem on his "first day" in the White House. However, not only was this promise not fulfilled, but the Trump administration also agreed six months ago to further delay the implementation of a 22-year-old congressional resolution regarding the embassy transfer to Jerusalem. The 1995 resolution remained on paper due to the deadlock in the Israeli-Palestinian political process and the assassination of then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was a signatory of the peace treaty with the Palestinians. At that time, the resolution allowed then-President Bill Clinton to suspend the implementation of the embassy transfer from Tel Aviv for six months at his discretion. Since Clinton, other U.S. presidents have also delayed the implementation of this congressional resolution every six months over the past 22 years, which has meant the continued operation of the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv. The Trump administration, despite promises for an immediate transfer of the embassy to Jerusalem, agreed on June 1 of this year to delay the implementation of the congressional resolution for another six months. On the other hand, a U.S. official stated on June 1 that only the timing of the embassy transfer is under review, not whether this will actually happen. In the coming days, the timeline for this decision will coincide with whether the 22-year-old congressional resolution will be implemented or remain suspended for another six months. Almost all countries in the world, including the U.S., do not recognize Israel's control over East Jerusalem, and the embassies of countries that have relations with Israel are located in Tel Aviv. Israel has held the western part of Jerusalem since its establishment in 1948, and the eastern part of Jerusalem, which was under Jordanian control until 1967, was occupied by Israel in that year's war. Israeli governments over the past fifty years have referred to both East and West Jerusalem as the "united and eternal capital." However, Palestinians, with the support of the international community, insist that East Jerusalem should be the capital of the future state to be established for Palestinians. Palestinian leaders have recently warned the Trump administration about the consequences of transferring the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. King Abdullah II of Jordan and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt have also expressed concern in their meetings with Donald Trump that the transfer of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem could have severe consequences. Despite the hopes of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for the fulfillment of Trump's promise to transfer the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, some Israeli politicians emphasize that as long as peace with the Palestinians does not progress meaningfully, Mr. Trump will not be able to fulfill the promise of relocating the embassy. Mike Pence spoke of the "active" examination of the transfer of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem while he is set to travel to Israel soon to address the Knesset.