Author Topic: France to Trump: Don't move U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem  (Read 556 times)

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Offline SirLinksALot

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France to Trump: Don't move U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem
« on: January 16, 2017, 01:59:38 am »
SOURCE: USA TODAY

URL: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/01/15/france-israel-jerusalem-peace/96613034/

by  John Bacon



A "stubborn" proposal by President-elect Donald Trump to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem would involve "very serious consequences" and damage efforts for peace in the Middle East, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Sunday.

Ayrault spoke at a Paris conference that drew more than 70 diplomats from around the world to press their case for peace through the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. The group issued a statement calling for the two sides to officially "re-state their commitment to the two-state solution."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry attended, but President-elect Donald Trump did not send a representative. The summit did not include Israel or the Palestinians, although they were invited to come to Paris afterward.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had been expected to go, but his visit was postponed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to attend, calling the meeting "rigged."

Netanyahu strongly criticized the gathering as a "futile" attempt by France and the Palestinians to force a bad deal on Israel. The conference "pushes peace further away" by hardening Palestinian positions, he said Sunday.

"I must say that this conference is among the last twitches of yesterday's world," Netanyahu said. "Tomorrow's world will be different — and it is very near," he said, in reference to Trump's upcoming inauguration on Friday.

Kerry said the U.S. worked to protect Israel from "unfair" treatment at the conference. He said a portion of the statement that condemned attacks on Israelis was added in part because of U.S. pressure.

“We didn't soften it. We did what was necessary to have a balanced resolution," Kerry said.

Trump's controversial proposal to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem drew condemnation from Ayrault.

"When you are president of the United States, you cannot take such a stubborn and such a unilateral view on this issue," Ayrault told France24. "You have to try to create the conditions for peace."

Abbas has warned that peace efforts would be set back if Trump moves the embassy. The move would reverse decades of U.S. policy that the final status of Jerusalem should be determined in peace negotiations with the Palestinians. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be their capital, but Israel has ruled out dividing the city that serves as its capital.

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Offline dfwgator

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Re: France to Trump: Don't move U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem
« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2017, 02:00:09 am »
Whatever, you cheese-eating surrender monkeys.

Offline kidd

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Re: France to Trump: Don't move U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem
« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2017, 12:15:13 pm »
Quote
Abbas has warned that peace efforts would be set back if Trump moves the embassy.

Set back?
From what?

Offline thackney

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Re: France to Trump: Don't move U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem
« Reply #3 on: January 16, 2017, 12:51:34 pm »
  JERUSALEM EMBASSY ACT OF 1995
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-104publ45/html/PLAW-104publ45.htm

Public Law 104-45
104th Congress

                                 An Act


 
To provide for the relocation of the United States Embassy in Israel to
 Jerusalem, and for other purposes. <<NOTE: Nov. 8, 1995 -  [S. 1322]>>

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, <<NOTE: Jerusalem
Embassy Act of 1995. Foreign relations.>>

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Each sovereign nation, under international law and
        custom, may designate its own capital.
            (2) Since 1950, the city of Jerusalem has been the capital
        of the State of Israel.
            (3) The city of Jerusalem is the seat of Israel's President,
        Parliament, and Supreme Court, and the site of numerous
        government ministries and social and cultural institutions.
            (4) The city of Jerusalem is the spiritual center of
        Judaism, and is also considered a holy city by the members of
        other religious faiths.
            (5) From 1948-1967, Jerusalem was a divided city and Israeli
        citizens of all faiths as well as Jewish citizens of all states
        were denied access to holy sites in the area controlled by
        Jordan.
            (6) In 1967, the city of Jerusalem was reunited during the
        conflict known as the Six Day War.
            (7) Since 1967, Jerusalem has been a united city
        administered by Israel, and persons of all religious faiths have
        been guaranteed full access to holy sites within the city.
            (8) This year marks the 28th consecutive year that Jerusalem
        has been administered as a unified city in which the rights of
        all faiths have been respected and protected.
            (9) In 1990, the Congress unanimously adopted Senate
        Concurrent Resolution 106, which declares that the Congress
        ``strongly believes that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city
        in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are
        protected''.
            (10) In 1992, the United States Senate and House of
        Representatives unanimously adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution
        113 of the One Hundred Second Congress to commemorate the 25th
        anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, and reaffirming
        congressional sentiment that Jerusalem must remain an undivided
        city.
            (11) The September 13, 1993, Declaration of Principles on
        Interim Self-Government Arrangements lays out a timetable for
        the resolution of ``final status'' issues, including Jerusalem.
            (12) The Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area
        was signed May 4, 1994, beginning the five-year transitional
        period laid out in the Declaration of Principles.
            (13) In March of 1995, 93 members of the United States
        Senate signed a letter to Secretary of State Warren Christopher
        encouraging ``planning to begin now'' for relocation of the
        United States Embassy to the city of Jerusalem.
            (14) In June of 1993, 257 members of the United States House
        of Representatives signed a letter to the Secretary of State
        Warren Christopher stating that the relocation of the United
        States Embassy to Jerusalem ``should take place no later than .
        . . 1999''.
            (15) The United States maintains its embassy in the
        functioning capital of every country except in the case of our
        democratic friend and strategic ally, the State of Israel.
            (16) The United States conducts official meetings and other
        business in the city of Jerusalem in de facto recognition of its
        status as the capital of Israel.
            (17) In 1996, the State of Israel will celebrate the 3,000th
        anniversary of the Jewish presence in Jerusalem since King
        David's entry....

- - - - - - - - - - -

Noteworthy developments since the passage of the Act and well past the initial May 31, 1999 deadline's expiration:

Of the 22 Presidential Determinations to suspend the limitations that have been issued between 1998 and the fall of 2009, only the Bush era issuances, the bulk of the determinations to date, included the wording:

::"[The current] Administration remains committed to beginning the process of moving our embassy to Jerusalem";

…while President Obama's issuances mirror the wording first used by President Clinton.
Section 214 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, FY 2003 states:

::"The Congress maintains its commitment to relocating the United States Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and urges the President [...] to immediately begin the process of relocating the United States Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem".
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