https://arab.news/y8c9r
- During a virtual fundraiser, Biden said the embassy move should have happened in the context of a larger deal, reiterating his support for a two-state solution
- Even though Trump鈥檚 Middle East peace plan, released in January, paid lip service to a two-state solution, it gave Israel complete control of Jerusalem and the West Bank
WASHINGTON DC: Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden said he will keep the US Embassy in Jerusalem if he is elected president later this year.
This despite calling President Donald Trump鈥檚 decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv 鈥渟hort-sighted and frivolous.鈥�
In 1995, while a Delaware senator, Biden supported the Jerusalem Embassy Act, overwhelmingly adopted by both the Senate and the House, which recognized Jerusalem as Israel鈥檚 capital, calling for the city to remain 鈥渦ndivided.鈥�
But the law allowed the president to invoke and reissue a six-month waiver on 鈥渘ational security grounds.鈥�
The waiver was repeatedly renewed by presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Trump signed the waiver in June 2017, before the Senate passed a resolution reaffirming the Jerusalem Embassy Act and calling on the president to abide by its provisions.
Trump then recognized Jerusalem as Israel鈥檚 capital and ordered the relocation of the embassy, which was completed by May 2018.
Michael O鈥橦anlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and an informal advisor to Biden on defense matters, said revisiting the embassy question does not make sense.
鈥淩eversing a move already made is in fact different than preferring to delay it in the first place,鈥� O鈥橦anlon told Arab News. 鈥淚鈥檓 at a loss as to how the US can gain leverage over Israel in this day and age.鈥�
Moving the embassy back to Tel Aviv 鈥渕ight not even be sustainable for a US president, since we could wind up toggling back and forth from one president to the next,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 tend to agree with Biden: What鈥檚 done is done. But I鈥檓 also frustrated at America鈥檚 inability to persuade Israel to be reasonable on the peace process and two-state solution.鈥�
During a virtual fundraiser, Biden said the embassy move should have happened in the context 鈥渙f a larger deal to help us achieve important concessions for peace in the process,鈥� reiterating his support for a 鈥渢wo-state solution.鈥�
Even though Trump鈥檚 Middle East peace plan, released in January, paid lip service to a two-state solution, it gave Israel complete control of Jerusalem and the West Bank, allowing it to annex 30 percent of the Palestinian territories there. It also rejected the right of return for Palestinian refugees.