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| By israelinsider staff December 19, 2006 |
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The United States has once again put off the politically fraught decision to move its embassy to Israel's capital, Jerusalem. President Bush cited national security interests as the reason for the delay.
Legislation passed by Congress in 1995 called on the United States to move its embassy to Jerusalem. However, the Jerusalem Embassy Act has been postponed every six months since its creation by each successive president.
Bush did claim that he "remains committed to beginning the process of moving [the] embassy to Jerusalem" in a notice to the Secretary of State. An anonymous White House official added that such a move now would interfere with the United State's efforts to advance peace between Israelis and Palestinians and an eventual two-state solution.
The controversy surrounding the decision to have embassies in Israel's capital stems from Israel's gains during the Six Day War of 1967, when Israel gained control of the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, and Judea and Samaria (West Bank), including East Jerusalem.
Much of the international community has yet to accept these gains, just as Israel's existence has not been accepted universally. Israel considers all of Jerusalem to be its capital, while the Palestinians claim that East Jerusalem should be the capital of their future state.
There are currently no embassies in Jerusalem as Costa Rica and El Salvador recently moved their emabssies from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. Costa Rica's President, Oscar Arias, said, at the time, that after 24 years in Jerusalem it was time "to rectify a historical error that damages us on the international level and deprives us of any friendship with the Arab world." |
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