Taking this line of thinking in which international disputes are boiled down to accusations of racism, the world must be really racist against Chinese. Why else would so few countries recognize Taiwan?
How does “recognizing” a capital actually work, in practice? If all the Israeli government offices and institutions are in Jerusalem (and they are), isn’t the case pretty much closed? Of course you can open your embassy anywhere you want (or can you?)
And how do you speculate they are going to respond to that?
- Offer to negotiate a lasting and equitable peace accord.
- Riot and commit terrorist attacks.
I’m guessing it’ll be #2. And maybe it’s just me but I think increasing the threat of terrorist attacks against Americans is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to take that risk because the thing you’re doing is more important. But that’s not the case here. This is increasing the threat of terrorism over nothing except an empty symbolic gesture.
This was a stupid decision made by a stupid man.
My understanding is that the main effect will be to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Presumably this will be done by upgrading the status of the American consulate that is already located in Jerusalem.
According to Rex Tillerson this morning, the US intends to build a new embassy, which will take several years to find the land, design, budget for, and build.
“Several years” seems optimistic. I would think a decade or even longer.
Can’t the next administration, if it so desires, say “nope, just kidding, it’s really Tel Aviv. We’re changing the building in Jerusalem we’re building into an expanded consulate and shopping mall.”
How much would that undo the negative effects? None? (Not like the Palestinians would have cause to trust the US ever again. And if Israel retains its own right-wing-slanted government, they’d be pissed.) Would it matter, above a symbolic level?
This is what I want to know.
But they already have an embassy in Tel Aviv. In fact, all of the embassies in Israel are in Tel Aviv; only consulates are located in Jerusalem. What is the practicality of moving the embassy to Jerusalem? Tel Aviv is the location of Israel’s major international airport. It is Israel’s financial, business, and research hub. The Tel Aviv embassy is the second largest passport operation in the world. Is there some impediment to the U.S.'s diplomatic mission in Israel created by maintaining its embassy in Tel Aviv? If the government offices and institutions are less than an hour’s drive away, what’s the point of enflaming the region and undermining the peace process by relocating a perfectly well-positioned embassy?
What is the practical reasoning of having all our embassies in capital cities and in the case of the American embassies not located in capital cities (namely, The Hague and Tel Aviv embassies) is there a real disadvantage to their current location?
Well the next administration (or this administration) can say “it’s our intention to relocate the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, but due to security concerns we’ve been unable to locate an appropriate location so…” and leave it at that as long as it’s politically expedient to do so. Essentially what I’m saying is that they can tell everyone it’s going to happen with no intention of actually carrying it out and reasonably explain away the lack of progress in that direction without blowing their cover.
I predict that we don’t ever see an embassy in Jerusalem because I don’t think they really intend to relocate the embassy. Trump avoids the hard work of actually relocating an embassy to a disputed region and rests his reputation on the “success” of his symbolic act of recognizing the capital doing what so many other presidents before him avoided without the risk of failure should an embassy relocation result in bloodshed and violence. It’s bluster and political posturing. Trump doesn’t really care
about the peace process in Israel because it doesn’t benefit him personally.
Yes, very much so. Time, as previously mentioned by aceplace57, is not on the Palestinian side. Do they want 85% of the settlements for 95% of the land they want, or none of the settlements, plus none of Jerusalem, for 95% of the land?
Regards,
Shodan
It’s probably a wash. Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are only thirty-six miles apart so it’s not like it’s a major journey to travel between them.
On the one hand, the American Ambassador will now be located in Jerusalem, which will presumably save him some travel time when he meets with Israeli government officials based in that city. On the other hand, the Ambassador also has to work with the rest of the diplomatic community that’s based in Israel and all of the other embassies are located in Tel Aviv. So now the American Ambassador will have to travel to meet with any other Ambassadors.
Well, it depends. Do people in the Middle East tend to hold on to grievances based on historical events?
I think you should take a vacation in Israel sometime and make a trip to the West Bank. I think seeing the situation firsthand makes one much less inclined to blow off legitimate concerns on both sides of the dispute.
Anyone who claims that they do would have to furnish a humongous cite for something so unbelievable!
Ha! Y’er funny.
Well, really, it could just be changing the sign on the front of the current consulate in Jerusalem to say “Embassy”, and marking one of the rooms as the “Ambassador’s Office”.
The current Jerusalem consulate employs 471 people. I’ve heard (but can’t verify) that this is about the same or even more than the number employed in Tel Aviv.
Actually, the US already has a section of land chosen, and leased for 99 years. But it’s only a 13-acre site, while they now like to have 40-50 acres for embassy sites in ‘dangerous’ locations. (And the Middle East qualifies!)
But that site is in the middle of a neighborhood that has become gentrified and filled with expensive condos & apartment buildings. I suppose the USA could just use it for rental property for 99 years, and make big bucks from it. (Though it is zoned for diplomatic use.)
The US Consular Service is located in a building in Jerusalem that literally straddles the 1967 border line. They could call that the US Embassy building, and claim to be literally in both partitions.
It would be wise to wait a year or two before beginning construction on an Embassy.
There’s no need to make the workers targets for attacks or protests.
It’s better to let things cool off. Buy the land and start construction quietly without stirring up violent protests.
It would be wise to remind everyone that the US’ decision has no effect on Jerusalem’s future. Israel can divide a section of it for the Palestine state. Or Not. That’s up to them.
…he says, about a hornets nest that was just kicked in Jerusalem.
They’re butthurt now.
They can’t stay mad forever.
Iran and the Saudis are getting most of the attention over there.
You’re funny.