Summary
During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump's team spoke often about moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
In a statement before a first post-inauguration phone call between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer appeared to lower expectations of an imminent announcement of a move that could anger the Arab world.
While the Israeli prime minister cannot be seen to oppose the United States moving its embassy to Jerusalem – Israel considers the city its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all countries to base their embassies here – there is an awareness that such a move could be destabilizing. Currently, no country has its embassy in Jerusalem, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.
If the United States were to relocate its embassy, it would be an explicit recognition of Jerusalem belonging to Israel, predetermining the outcome of negotiations and taking a side in a process in which the United States is a critical actor.
Egypt, which signed a peace deal with Israel in 1979 and cooperates closely with it on security, also has reservations about any move, calling it a "very inflammable issue".
If the United States were to shift its embassy, it could rock those ties.
Israeli officials say they don't want any move to be rushed.
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