T. Belman. The US policy on the liberated territories has been in place for 50 years but it is unsustainable when history and reality are taken into account.
Jerusalem, including the Kotel, are fundamentally a part of Israel and always have been. It is high time that the US recognize this and change their policy. Their policy is based on the Res 181, which contrary to the Mandate, made Jerusalem an international city. Notwithstanding that, Ben Gurion accepted the resolution because it also provided that after 10 years the status of Jerusalem would be determined by referendum of it citizens. Ben Gurion had confidence that the Jews would win the referendum. Such referendum never took place.
The US also went along with the world and perhaps even led it, to reject Israel’s annexation of Jerusalem in 1980.
The US Envoy to the UN made the two remarkable statement supporting Israel’s sovereignty over the Western Wall as well as the embassy move in an interview with CBN News on Tuesday.
The Western Wall is part of Israel, US Ambassador to the UN Nikkey Haley said on Tuesday as she took a number of stands that appears to differ from the Trump Administration.
“The Western Wall is part of Israel and I think that is how we have always seen it and that is how we should pursue it,” Haley told the Christian Broadcasting Network in a video interview.
“I am not real sure what happened with that issue,” she added.
“I know that they are trying to fix that and get that taken care of, we have always thought the Western Wall was part of Israel,” Haley said.
But in Washington when pressed on the matter, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer struck a different tone.
“The Western Wall is obviously one of the holiest sites in Jewish faith. It’s clearly in Jerusalem,” he told reporters.
“It’s an issue that’s had serious consideration. It will be a topic that’s going to be discussed during the President’s trip between the parties that he meets with.
“I think this stems from a comment that was made yesterday and which was not the policy of the United States,” Spicer said.
He spoke one day after two US officials in Jerusalem reportedly told Israelis that the Western Wall was in the West Bank and was, therefore, not under Israeli sovereignty.
US National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster also had difficulty at a White House press briefing when asked, “Does the President believe that the Western Wall is part of Israel?”
He was pressed on that point twice and ducked it both times.
When briefing reporters on Trump’s visit to Jerusalem next week, McMaster made no mention of whether Trump would make use of the visit to announce the relocation of the US Embassy from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.
Trump had promised to do so during his campaign for office, but has yet to make good on that pledge.
Haley told CBN that she believed he should act on the matter.
“The capital should be Jerusalem and the embassy should be moved to Jerusalem, because [Israel’s] government is in Jerusalem. So much of what goes on is in Jerusalem. We have to see that for what it is. The tricky part is where the Palestinians come in on this and where the Israelis comes in on this,” Haley said.
“We know the Israelis do not want to give on Jerusalem at all and we have to see how strong the Palestinians stand on that. That is your touchy part, is Jerusalem even on the table, I don’t know that it is.”
@ ligneus:
Humor:
:
What’s all this talk about what’s where?
Everybody knows that the Grand Canyon is located in Brazil, and that Roseanne is from Mars.
So Trump could be a Truman. One of those little quirks that would be considered too contrived in a novel, that their names start with the same four letters.
Hold the referendum.