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US-Israel Relationship

Trump has plan to declare Jerusalem Israel’s ‘undivided’ capital: report

The Trump White House has developed a plan to declare Jerusalem as Israel’s “undivided” capital and has began notifying its missions abroad to lay the ground for its announcement, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Citing American officials, the newspaper reported that the plan was not final, but that if legal and policy considerations were resolved, a formal announcement could be made next week.

Donald Trump promised to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem during his election campaign, but has not yet done so. The report said only that the embassy would be moved “in the future.”

A White House spokesman said that “the president has always said it is a matter of when, not if,” and that “the president is still considering options and we have nothing to announce.”

Jerusalem annexed the Arab-majority eastern parts of the city after the Six Day War in 1967, a move never recognized by the bulk of the international community.

Recognizing Jerusalem as “undivided” would likely dash Palestinian hopes of establishing in East Jerusalem the capital of their hoped-for future state, and could upend the White House’s current attempts to revive the stalled peace process.

Read More: I24 News