ISRAEL WANTS TO MOVE U.S. EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM DESPITE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ‘S REFUSAL
Al-Quds (Jerusalem), 9 Sha’ban 1435/7 June 2014 (MINA) – Israel’s ambassador to the United States has called on Congress to “finally” and “very soon” move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, despite the Obama administration’s refusal to formally acknowledge Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Israel’s Ambassador Ron Dermer made the call last week on Capitol Hill during an event marking Jerusalem Day, when the city was unified by Israel, The Washington Free Beacon quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
The successive US administrations have been reluctant to formalize the move, with the Obama administration going so far as to deny that Jerusalem is even in Israel.
Dermer’s public call for Congress to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is relatively unprecedented for a high level Israeli official and underscores the political controversy over the Obama administration’s refusal to formally acknowledge Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Lawmakers have for years tried to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from its location in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. However, successive administrations have been reluctant to formalize the move, with the Obama administration going so far as to deny that Jerusalem is even in Israel.
Dermer told U.S. lawmakers in attendance at the May 29 event organized by the Israel Allies Foundation that it is “finally” time for the United States to acknowledge Jerusalem as Israel’s “undivided” capital and to relocate the U.S. embassy there.
“Who knows, maybe one day very soon you will decide to move your embassy, finally, to Israel’s capital, Jerusalem,” Dermer said, according to video of his remarks obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. “In doing so you will not undermine the prospects for peace, you will strengthen the chances for peace because for peace to hold in our region it has to be based on truth.”
While Obama administration officials have argued that the status of Jerusalem is an issue that needs to be decided in peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, Dermer maintained that the issue is about acknowledging “the connection of the Jewish people to the Jewish land.”
“The decision in the United States, the decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem, would be a statement in favor of truth and if we have that type of truth, if we make clear to the world the connection of the Jewish people to the Jewish land, the connection of the Jewish people to its capital in Jerusalem, we will be laying a very, very strong, powerful cornerstone for peace,” Dermer said.
“We all want to see peace happen,” he continued. “The best way we can do that is by beginning to speak the truth, by defending Jerusalem and defending the eternal connection that we have to our ancient capital.”
Willem Griffioen, the executive director of the Israel Allies Foundation, called Dermer’s comments “historic.”
“It was a historic occasion for Ambassador Dermer to come to Capitol Hill and call on Congress and the U.S. government to move the American Embassy,” Griffioen told the Free Beacon. “I very much second what the ambassador said when he emphasized that for the U.S. to move it’s embassy to Jerusalem would not hinder peace but would strengthen the chances for peace as peace must be rooted in truth.”
Dermer’s public call to move the embassy takes direct aim at the Obama administration’s policy on the issue. The White House on Monday reissued an executive waiver to skirt the law and ensure that the embassy is not relocated.
Despite multiple U.S. laws effectively labeling Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and mandating the embassy be moved, the Obama administration has made it a policy to deny that the ancient city is Israeli territory.
State Department releases have dubbed Jerusalem as its own entity and labeled Israel separately.
Former State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland went on record in 2012 to state that the administration considers Jerusalem a topic for peace talks.
“With regard to our Jerusalem policy, it’s a permanent-status issue,” she told reporters in 2012 after the State Department came under fire for altering communications that labeled Jerusalem and Israel as separate entities. “It’s got to be resolved through the negotiations between the parties.”
Democrats additionally came under fire in 2012 when party leaders removed language from the Democratic National Committee’s platform acknowledging Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Israel implementing ‘biggest Judaization project’ in Jerusalem
Meanwhile according to Islam Times, Israeli institutes have begun implementing “the biggest Judaization” project in Jerusalem, the Waqf organization that overseas the Al-Aqsa Mosque said in a statement Monday.
The project, called the “National Antiquities Complex,” will be constructed on a 20 dunams (5 acres) of land in West Jerusalem near Hebrew University’s Givat Ram campus, the statement said.
The complex will contain an “antiquities library,” a “national scientific antiquities archive,” a department for “the home of the Israeli antiquities authority,” and other offices for archiving and storing antiquities.
It will hold around 2 million artifacts, including the “alleged” Dead Sea scrolls, the press release said.
The “antiquities library” will hold 150,000 books, including 500 rare books and scrolls, and over 1,000 journals. The archives will include documents from the British Mandate in Palestine such as maps and publications related to British excavations in the 1900s.
Project coordinators raised approximately $100 million for the National Antiquities Complex, collecting funds from 26 Zionist, mostly American, organizations, the Waqf statement said.
Additionally, some of the funding for the project came from the Israeli government.
Construction on the complex is expected to be completed in 2016.
The Waqf organization condemned the project, saying it aimed “to show the Talmudic account on the land of Palestine.”
(T/P03/E01)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
