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| 1/18/17: The Trump administration plans to relocate its current Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel (middle) to a new building in Jerusalem, Israel (bottom) which currently serves as the US Consulate. The new Embassy will be located just inside West Jerusalem, on the disputed border between Israel and Palestine/West Bank (top). |
President Trump and his administration have allegedly announced plans to move the US's Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This process is forecasted to be completed by 2019, but the administration states that it may take longer. A law previously put out in 1995 had prevented the US from opening an operational embassy in Jerusalem beforehand. As a result, the Trump administration has rather prioritized the US's security, which is greatly contingent on peaceful relations between Israel and Palestine. Tension has been going on in the area since 1948. Following this declaration, the UN abruptly reacted to the decision, accusing it to be staunching efforts to create peace between the two countries. And consequently, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has already agreed not to participate in any peace negotiations with the US.
Discussion Questions:
1. Ambassador David M. Friedman of the US suggests relocating him and his embassy to Jerusalem in roughly three years. Do you believe the US should relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem? Why or why not?
2. The border between Israel and Palestine/West Bank is currently disputed. How do you believe this relocation would affect the relationship between the Israelis and the Palestinians? Israelis and Palestinians individually?
3. Building an embassy out of scratch in an entirely new area could cost anywhere from $600 million to $1 billion. Should the US invest that much money into a new embassy in a different city, or should it stay in one of the two locations presented above? If so, which location do you think would be most beneficial for the US Israeli embassy? In addition, do you believe the decision to relocate the embassy into West Jerusalem rather than East Jerusalem is rational? Why or why not?
The US should definitely not move it's embassy to Jerusalem. Just the announcement has sent shockwaves through an already incredibly volatile area, to actually follow through could bring even more violence to the region. Besides, with such a change coming with a price tag possibly in the billions, it isn’t worth it to stir up trouble to the detriment of the American wallet. The US has historically supported The Jewish people in their fight to create and maintain Israel, but in doing so they made sure that the holy city of Jerusalem remained international territory due to it’s high religious value to the religions in the region. To put an embassy there would be to change a fundamental US policy, one necessary for the goal of peace in Israel.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ariela. The US moving its Israeli embassy would be tantamount to political suicide. As the article stated, it would cost quite the pretty penny, money that could be used paying off the interest of America's growing debt or providing relief to the Middle East instead of exacerbating the issue like this move would. For one, the UN has publicly condemned President Trump's decision to name Jerusalem Israel's capital, so moving the embassy would do more than just worsen the conflict with Palestine. Trump had threatened to stop funding the UN when they took the vote not to support this decision last year, and if America follows through on both this and the move, its credibility will suffer, tagging the western superpower as a stubborn, uncompromising, unreasonable fool of a country.
ReplyDelete(1) http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/21/politics/haley-un-jerusalem/index.html
I agree with both Ariela and Janet. Moving the US embassy in Israel from its place in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would cause major conflict and create a huge mess for the US to sort through. The UN is already upset with the plans that Trump has to move Israel's capital to Jerusalem and this move would simply cause more unnecessary conflict between the US and the UN. It may not be a safe place to move to Jerusalem either, due to the extensive violent history of the sacred city. Putting political issues into a religious city may cause volatile problems for the US. The money that would be used for this move could be dedicated to a more advantageous use such as funding for Middle East violence victims or to pay off our 20 trillion dollar debt. Overall this move could potentially cause the rupture of the fragile tethers between the US and the UN and cause many political problems for the US including making us look like fools for killing a bargain.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what everyone has stated above, and wanted to add that this is definitely not a rash, wise, or competent decision. Trump is known to rigorously follow these three traits, especially in international diplomacy, which will have a huge negative effect on the reputation of the US. This goes way beyond the US, however, as it adds to the tension between Israel and Palestine. Israel might feel appreciative of the support, and even take Trump's claim seriously as one that should be acted upon. Palestine has shown strong opposition to US relocation of the embassy, trying to reinforce that Jerusalem has been under Arab control, and should remain that way. It is a city surrounded by and built upon dispute, which won't be solved anytime soon, and is definitely not being relieved by Trump's rash claims.
ReplyDeleteThe US should not relocate its embassy to Jerusalem—the announcement alone has caused multiple nations to be none too pleased with the US. The consequences of moving the embassy to Jerusalem would only be greater and would politically affect the US for many years afterwards. In addition, the move would signal that the US recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel—considering the current political situation, this move can only cause immense discord—would overturn years of international consensus and possibly the end of the effort to create peace between Israelis and Palestinians. By moving to Jerusalem, the US would be siding with one group (Israelis), most likely offending the other and, again, heightening the already high tensions. I agree with Riddhi about how the money that would be used to build a new embassy should be instead used for something else more beneficial.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2017/01/24/middleeast/donald-trump-us-embassy-israel-explainer/index.html
This move by the U.S. just confirms the statement made by president Trump saying that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Not only is that notion false, it also is offensive to Palestinians who believe that Israel is their capital. I feel that this with only increase the fighting between Israel and Palestine. There doesn't seems to be a reason for the U.S. to change their embassy especially because it will cause them to build a new building and spend money doing it.
ReplyDelete