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To: WMarshal
First, the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 is a public law of the United States passed by the 104th Congress on October 23, 1995. It was passed for the purposes of initiating and funding the relocation of the Embassy of the United States in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, no later than May 31, 1999, and attempted to withhold 50 percent of the funds appropriated to the State Department specifically for "Acquisition and Maintenance of Buildings Abroad" as allocated in fiscal year 1999 until the United States Embassy in Jerusalem had officially opened. The act also called for Jerusalem to remain an undivided city and for it to be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel. Israel's declared capital is Jerusalem, but this is not internationally recognized, pending final status talks in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The United States has withheld recognition of the city as Israel's capital. The proposed law was adopted by the Senate (93–5), and the House (374–37).

Since passage, the law has never been implemented, because of opposition from Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama, who view it as a Congressional infringement on the executive branch's constitutional authority over foreign policy; they have consistently claimed the presidential waiver on national security interests.

The fact is that Congress passed the bill but included a wavier for the President knowing full well he would use it. It was just a grandstanding play by Congress for domestic consumption. Why didn't Presidents implement the act?

The United States views as desirable the establishing of an international regime for the city. Its final status must be resolved through negotiations and it does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

United States policy on Jerusalem refers specifically to the geographic boundaries of the "City of Jerusalem" based on the UN's corpus separatum proposal. De jure, Jerusalem is part of the Palestine Mandate and has not been under sovereignty of any country since.

The United States voted for the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in November 1947 and United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 in December 1948 following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War but voted against Resolution 303 in December 1949 that reaffirmed that Jerusalem be established a corpus separatum under a special international regime to be administered by the United Nations because the U.S. regarded the plan as no longer feasible after both Israel and Jordan had established a political presence in the city.

The U.S. opposed Israel's moving its capital from Tel Aviv to West Jerusalem following Israel's declaration of Jerusalem as its capital in 1949 and opposed Jordan's plan to make Jerusalem its second capital announced in 1950. The U.S. opposed Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem after the 1967 war. The United States has proposed that the future of Jerusalem should be the subject of a negotiated settlement. Subsequent administrations have maintained the same policy that Jerusalem's future not be the subject of unilateral actions that could prejudice negotiations such as moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

In 2002, passed as part of the "Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2003" Congress said, "For purposes of the registration of birth, certification of nationality, or issuance of a passport of a United States citizen born in the city of Jerusalem, the Secretary shall, upon the request of the citizen or the citizen’s legal guardian, record the place of birth as Israel," although Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have not allowed it.[58] A federal appeals court declared the 2002 law invalid on 23 July 2013. On 8 June 2015, The Supreme Court in a 6-3 ruling struck down Section 214(d) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, FY 2003, citing the law as an overreach of Congressional power into foreign policy.

The United States maintains a consulate in Jerusalem that deals primarily with the Palestinian Authority, while relations with the Israeli government are handled from the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv. The U.S. consulate is not accredited to the Israeli government

The Declaration of Principles and the Interim Agreement, signed by Israel and the PLO on 13 September 1993 and 28 September 1995 respectively, left the issue of the status of Jerusalem to be decided in the ‘permanent status’ negotiations between the two parties.

I am a very strong supporter of Trump, but I was disappointed with his pandering on the issue. The bottom line is that the status of Jerusalem will be decided as part of the negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

I am a retired FSO and am familiar with the "theology" that surrounds the status of Jerusalem. It is a complicated issue that won't be resolved by the US being the only country to have its embassy in Jerusalem. Trump will find that out if he is in the WH. I predict he will use the Presidential wavier just like his predecessors.

71 posted on 03/21/2016 10:58:49 PM PDT by kabar
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To: kabar

But why would Trump care about that? Laws are to be changed. No Congress is bound by the congress before it and treaties can be broken.

What other wishful ideas do you have?


72 posted on 03/22/2016 12:08:31 AM PDT by WMarshal (Trump 2016 (and 2020)!)
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