INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
Palestine vs. United States: Relocation of the USA Embassy to Jerusalem
On 6 December 2017, Donald Trump, the President of the United States of America, officially announced the recognition of the Holy City of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In an announcement he ordered the planning of the relocation of the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In mid-October 2018, the United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, announced that the Embassy in Jerusalem would be merging the US Consulate-General into a single mission. The Embassy opened at its Jerusalem location on May 14th, 2018. The move came 23 years after the signing of the Jerusalem Embassy Act on October 23rd, 1995, which set the deadline for the move as May 31st, 1999. Despite this, the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations all deferred the move. The decision for moving the US embassy has led to a lot of controversy. On one hand, the decision has been welcomed by Israel’s government, and is strongly supported by Israeli Jews. However, many Palestinians are very unhappy about it.
