White House plays down imminent Jerusalem Embassy move

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer delivers a statement in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on Saturday. (AFP)

WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM:The White House on Sunday appeared to play down suggestions that a controversial decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was imminent.
“We are at the very beginning stages of even discussing this subject,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told AFP.
President Donald Trump had promised to move the embassy to Jerusalem “fairly quickly” after coming to office, prompting speculation that a decision could come as soon as Monday.
Like other major powers, the US has put its embassy in Tel Aviv.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has warned that moving the embassy would deal a huge blow to hopes for Middle East peace.
The UN and EU have voiced deep concern over the proposal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was to speak with Trump later on Sunday, while Israeli officials also approved hundreds of new settler homes that had been postponed until after he took office.
Beyond that, hard-line Israeli ministers were pushing a plan to unilaterally annex a large Jewish settlement near Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, a move many say could badly damage prospects for a two-state solution.
Following Trump’s inauguration, Israeli officials on Sunday approved building permits for 566 settler homes in annexed east Jerusalem.
One minister was reportedly promoting his own plan to annex other settlements in the Jerusalem area.
“This evening there will be a telephone conversation between President Trump and myself,” Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting.
“There are many issues between us, including the Israeli-Palestinian issue, the situation in Syria and the Iranian threat.”
Trump has pledged strong support for Israel and vowed during his campaign to recognize Jerusalem as the country’s capital despite the city’s contested status.
Israeli right-wing politicians have welcomed his election, with hard-liners who oppose a Palestinian state hoping it will allow them to move forward with their long-held goal of annexing most of the West Bank.
Netanyahu has said he still supports a two-state solution, but Haaretz newspaper reported that he told a closed-door meeting of ministers from his Likud party Sunday that he was now only willing to agree to a “state-minus” for the Palestinians.
The statement, which was not confirmed by Netanyahu’s office, could indicate something short of statehood, such as autonomy.
The US is Israel’s most important ally, providing it with more than $3 billion per year in defense aid, but former president Barack Obama grew frustrated with Israeli settlement building.

He declined to veto a Dec. 23 UN Security Council resolution condemning settlements. Trump called for the resolution to be vetoed.
“The rules of the game have changed with Donald Trump’s arrival as president,” Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Meir Turjeman told AFP.
“We no longer have our hands tied as in the time of Barack Obama. Now we can finally build.”
The Palestinian presidency condemned the move, calling it a violation of the UN resolution.
A draft bill to annex the Maale Adumim settlement was also to be discussed by ministers on Sunday.
Netanyahu was reportedly seeking to delay a vote on the measure by a panel of ministers, arguing Trump’s team had indicated no unilateral moves should be taken so soon.
At the start of the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu spoke generally of settlements, saying “none are more concerned about it than the Likud government and I, and we will continue to look out for it wisely and responsibly, for the benefit of the settlement enterprise and the state of Israel.”
Annexing Maale Adumim unilaterally would set off alarm bells globally, with many warning that it would be another step toward dividing the occupied West Bank between north and south, making a contiguous Palestinian state difficult to achieve.
But for some Israeli ministers who oppose a Palestinian state, that is precisely the point.
“We have to tell the American administration what we want and not wait for orders from the administration,” Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked told Israel’s army radio.
Maale Adumim, in a strategic location east of Jerusalem, includes some 37,000 residents.
Some peace proposals have envisioned it becoming part of Israel in land swaps agreed with the Palestinians, but not unilaterally.
It was unclear whether the annexation proposal would apply to another key area called E1, located between the settlement and east Jerusalem.
The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, while Israel views the entire city as its capital.
Settlement watchdog Ir Amim said “the annexation of Maale Adumim and E1 will block east Jerusalem on its eastern side, swallow up its last development reserves and deepen the detachment from the West Bank.
“Given Maale Adumim’s critical location in the heart of the West Bank, the international community has for years been following with special concern all developments in this area, seen as a touchstone for the viability of a two-state solution.”
Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967. It later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognized by the international community.
Settlements in both the West Bank and east Jerusalem are viewed as illegal under international law.
Some 400,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, with another 200,000 in east Jerusalem. In comparison, around 2.9 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.