A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Thursday, June 1, 2017
Trump to delay US embassy move to Jerusalem: Sources
US officials and diplomatic sources told Reuters that the president will not fulfil his campaign pledge just yet
US
President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
shake hands after delivering press statements prior to an official
dinner in Jerusalem on May 22, 2017.
Thursday 1 June 2017
President Donald Trump is expected this week to delay relocating the
U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, U.S. officials and a
diplomatic source said on Wednesday, despite his campaign pledge to go
ahead with the controversial move.
With a deadline for a decision looming, Trump is likely to continue his
predecessors' policy of signing a six-month waiver overriding a 1995 law
requiring that the embassy be transferred to Jerusalem, an action that
would have complicated his efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace
talks, the sources said.
Trump has yet to make his decision official but is required by law to
act by Friday, according to one U.S. official who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
Barring a last-minute surprise, Trump is expected to renew the waiver.
His administration intends to make clear, however, that Trump remains
committed to the promise he made during the 2016 presidential campaign,
though it will not set a specific timetable for doing so, officials
said.
Asked whether Trump would sign the waiver, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters on Wednesday:
"Once we have a decision, we'll put it out," adding there would be "something very soon on that."
While there have been divisions among Trump's aides on the issue, the
view that appears to have prevailed is that the United States should
keep the embassy in Tel Aviv for now to avoid angering the Palestinians,
Arab governments and Western allies while the president seeks to
nurture peace efforts.
Trump avoided any public mention of a potential embassy move during his
visit to Israel and the West Bank in May. Despite that, most experts are
skeptical of Trump’s chances for achieving a peace deal that eluded
other U.S. presidents.
The status of Jerusalem is one of the major stumbling blocks. Israel
captured Arab East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war and later
annexed it, a move not recognized internationally. Israel considers all
of the city its indivisible capital.
Pro-Israel rhetoric
The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future
state. Jerusalem is home to holy sites of the Jewish, Muslim and
Christian religions.
Shifting the U.S. Embassy would be widely seen as Washington's
recognition of the Israeli position on Jerusalem's status, which
successive U.S. administrations have said must be decided in
negotiations between the two sides.
Former President Barack Obama renewed the waiver in December, setting
off a six-month clock for Trump. CNN was first to report that Trump was
expected to sign the waiver.
On the campaign trail, Trump's pro-Israel rhetoric raised expectations
that he would act quickly to move the embassy. But after he took office
in January, the issue lost momentum as he met Arab leaders who warned it
would be hard to rejuvenate long-stalled peace efforts unless he acted
as a fair mediator.
Some of Trump's top aides have pushed for him to keep his campaign
promise, not only because it would be welcomed by most Israelis but to
satisfy the pro-Israel, right-wing base that helped him win the
presidency. The State Department, however recommended against an embassy
move, one U.S. official said.
"The president is still committed to moving the embassy," one U.S.
official said. "It's not a question of whether but when it will be
done."
The Jerusalem Embassy Act passed by Congress in 1995 mandating
relocation of embassy to Jerusalem allows the president to waive the
requirement in accordance with U.S. national security interests