U.S. President Donald Trump, in an interview with the Christian television Network TBN, said he wanted to give a shot at achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians before making a decision with regard to a possible relocation of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. President Trump said, “I’m not making any predictions but I want to give that (peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians) a shot before I even think about moving the embassy to Jerusalem. So, we’ll see. But, as you know I’m very, very strong on Israel and I want to see if we can make peace, if we can make peace between the Palestinians and Israel. I think it will lead to ultimately peace in the Middle East which has to happen,” the American President said to former governor Mike Huckabee.
Even though President Trump vowed during his Presidential election campaign to relocate the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the American leader decided after taking-office to hold-off on his pledge, heeding the advice of regional leaders who warned that the relocation of the U.S. embassy, which would essentially declare Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, would hinder the Trump Administration’s efforts to revive the long-stalled peace process aimed at ending the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That said, when asked in his interview to TBN whether there was a timeframe for the embassy to be relocated, Trump declared that a decision on the matter would be made “in the not too distant future.”
The statement by President Trump on the matter of relocating the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, however, has angered Israeli officials, with Ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet criticizing the American leader. Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin, from Netanyahu’s ruling Likud faction, criticized President Trump for not upholding his election promise, while declaring that peace between Israel and the Palestinians was not a viable reality at this moment. Minister Elkin stated that an illusion persists, among the international community, that the current Palestinian leadership was a partner for real peace, a belief the Israeli minister declared ‘is far from reality.’ Elkin explained that “Anyone who sees the ongoing incitement in the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas’ refusal to stop paying salaries to terrorists, the election of a terrorist with blood on his hands as the mayor of the largest city in the Palestinian territories, and recently the embrace of fraternity and reconciliation with the terrorists from Hamas — realizes that the last thing that can be expected of President Mahmoud Abbas and his men is to advance peace.” It is important to note that Minister Ze’ev Elkin, who is considered as a close associate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has criticized the Trump Administration on several occasions, with just last week declaring that President Donald Trump has continued the tradition of the Obama administration with regard to condemning Israel’s settlement construction policy on lands the Palestinians demand for their future state.