US State Department spokesman John Kirby.
Washington, 06 Rabiul Akhir 1438/05 January 2017 (MINA) – The Obama administration believes that moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is “not constructive” to the peace process and could increase regional tensions.
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“It’s not constructive to the overall peace process,” KUNA quoted State Department spokesman John Kirby as saying on Wednesday, adding it could put US troops and diplomats there in “harms way.”
Kirby told a briefing that such a move could “exacerbate the tensions” between Israelis and Palestinians and elsewhere in the region.
“It’s our policy and it was the policy of previous administrations, as well,” he said, “that moving the embassy to Jerusalem is not a good idea.”
Kirby made the comments after three Republicans in the Senate introduced a bill to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem.
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The three are Dean Heller of Nevada, Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas – the last two of whom had fallen out of the 2016 presidential race.
During his own presidential campaign, president-elect Donald Trump had expressed support of the move. (T/RS05/RS01)
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