President Donald Trump is trying to determine how keeping his promise to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem could affect his hopes of brokering a peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians, his secretary of state said on Sunday.
Since taking office in January, Trump has shown signs of shelving his campaign pledge to move the embassy from Tel Aviv, while vowing to do what is necessary to clinch a Middle East peace agreement.
"The president is being very careful to understand how such a decision would impact a peace process," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told NBC's "Meet the Press." He spoke just days before Trump starts a Middle East trip that includes meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Israel regards Jerusalem as its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all foreign countries to base their embassies there. The relocation is strongly opposed by many U.S. allies as the Palestinians also claim the city as their capital.
Tillerson said Trump's decision would depend greatly on how it is seen by governments in the region, including "whether Israel views it as being helpful to a peace initiative or perhaps a distraction."
His comments drew a quick response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Israel's position has been stated many times before to the American administration and the world," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
"Moving the American embassy to Jerusalem will not harm the peace process, it will do the opposite. It will advance it by righting a historical wrong and by shattering the Palestinian fantasy that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel."
US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu are set to meet for the first time since relations
deteriorated over a nuclear deal between world powers and Iran.
The Washington talks come amid weeks of unrest between Israel and Palestinians.
Six Israelis were wounded in knife attacks by Palestinians on Sunday.
A Palestinian who drew a knife on Israeli guards was shot dead on
Monday.
Mr Netanyahu is seeking a boost in annual US military aid for Israel.
The talks are expected to pave the way towards an increase from $3.1bn (£2bn) a year to $5bn, media reports say. Jon Sopel: Netanyahu comes to Washington - again
Relations between Mr Netanyahu and Mr Obama were strained over July's
nuclear deal with Iran, which was bitterly opposed by Israel.
In the last week, the US has also expressed its surprise at Mr
Netanyahu's choice of a new spokesman, Ran Baratz, who made
controversial comments about administration officials.
On Facebook, Mr Baratz accused Mr Obama of anti-Semitism and described US Secretary of State John Kerry as having a "mental age" of no more than 12.
A US state department spokesman said the posts were "troubling and
offensive". Mr Baratz will not be part of Israel's delegation.
Image copyrightEPAImage caption The past month has seen clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces
At a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Mr Netanyahu said the focus of the
talks would be on "possible progress with the Palestinians, or at least
stabilising the situation with them, and, of course, strengthening the
security of the state of Israel".
On Monday morning a Palestinian woman was shot dead when she ignored
warnings to stop after approaching security guards with a knife at a
crossroads in the West Bank, Israeli officials said.
In the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday, four Israelis were struck
by a car driven by a Palestinian man, who was then killed by security
forces.
A Palestinian woman stabbed a security guard close to a West Bank
settlement south of Jerusalem before being shot by the victim. She
remains in a serious condition in hospital.
And near the West Bank village of Nabi Elias, an Israeli man was stabbed by two people who then fled.
The upsurge in violence began in September, when tensions at a
flashpoint holy site in East Jerusalem revered by Jews and Muslims
boiled over amid rumours Israel planned to relax long-standing rules to
strengthen Jewish rights at the complex.
Israel has repeatedly denied such claims.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu will "review" the appointment of his new communications director over comments he made criticising US President Barack Obama and others, the US says.
US state department spokesman John Kirby said Mr Baratz's Facebook posts were "troubling and offensive".
He said: "We obviously expect government officials from any country, especially our closest allies, to speak respectfully and truthfully about senior US government officials."
"The secretary spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning and we understand that the prime minister will be reviewing this appointment when he returns from his visit to the United States."
Rivlin 'marginal'
The Facebook posts emerged shortly after Mr Netanyahu announced the appointment of philosophy lecturer Mr Baratz as his chief spokesman on Wednesday.
In March, Mr Baratz described President Obama's criticism of Mr Netanyahu's opposition to the Iran nuclear deal as "the modern face of anti-Semitism in Western and liberal countries".
He was also critical of Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, saying he was "such a marginal figure" that even Islamic State militants would not want him as a hostage.
Mr Netanyahu quickly distanced himself from the comments.
"I have just read Dr Ran Baratz's posts on the internet, including those relating to the president of the state of Israel, the president of the United States and other public figures in Israel and the United States," he said in a statement.
"Those posts are totally unacceptable and in no way reflect my positions or the policies of the government of Israel. Dr Baratz has apologised and has asked to meet me to clarify the matter following my return to Israel."
Mr Baratz's appointment is still subject to cabinet approval and some ministers have said they will oppose it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has urged Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to hold talks to
calm the recent surge of violence.
Mr Netanyahu said he was "perfectly open" to a meeting that might be "potentially useful".
He also defended a massive security deployment in Jerusalem following a wave of knife attacks by Palestinians.
Near-daily attacks have left seven Israelis dead and dozens wounded over the past fortnight.
Several of the attackers were among at least 30 Palestinians who have been killed in recent violence.
Tensions
between Israelis and Palestinians have been fuelled by clashes in
Jerusalem, in the West Bank, and across the Gaza border, as well as the
wave of stabbings.
"Right now as we can speak, we can meet - I
have no problem with that - and we shall stop immediately this wave of
incitement and attacks against Israel," Mr Netanyahu told a news
conference on Thursday.
However, he continued, "I am willing to meet him [President Abbas] but he isn't willing to meet me".
The
Israeli leader said he was also willing to meet US Secretary of State
John Kerry and Jordan's King Abdullah for talks to defuse the tension.
Image copyrightAFPImage caption
Violent clashes have erupted in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip in recent days
The Palestinians have previously said they would not
return to talks unless Israel halted settlement building in the West
Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israel has built more than 100
settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since it occupied the
territories in the 1967 Middle East war. The settlements are considered
illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
Mr
Netanyahu also berated Mr Abbas for what he called inciting violence and
telling lies about Israel seeking to change the status quo at a holy
compound in East Jerusalem, known to Jews as Temple Mount and Muslims as
Haram al-Sharif.
Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday accused Israel of using excessive force against Palestinians.
He
said Israel was carrying out "executions of our children in cold
blood", highlighting the case of a 13-year-old Palestinian boy, Ahmed
Manasra, who was hit by a car after he and a 15-year-old stabbed two
Israelis, one of them a 13-year-old boy, on Monday.
Mr Netanyahu
rejected this as a "new big lie" in his news conference on Thursday,
hours after his government released video and photos showing the boy
alive in an Israeli hospital.
Image copyrightIsraeli Government Press OfficeImage caption
Israel released a photo of Ahmed Manasra alive in
hospital, after Mahmoud Abbas said the boy had been "executed"
Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat later said
that Mr Abbas had received inaccurate information on the boy's
condition, AFP news agency reports.
Israeli police on Wednesday
began setting up checkpoints in Arab-majority parts of East Jerusalem,
including one neighbourhood that was home to three of the Palestinians
who carried out attacks on Israelis this week.
Israel's security
cabinet had earlier authorised police to seal off or impose a curfew on
parts of the city in a bid to stop "those who try murder and...all those
who assist them".
It also announced that the homes of
Palestinian attackers would be demolished within days and that their
families' right to live in Jerusalem would be taken away.
The
Palestinian leader said on Wednesday that Israel's security actions
threatened "to spark a religious conflict that would burn everything".
Human Rights Watch has also condemned the new measures, saying they infringed on freedom of movement of all Palestinians.
But
Mr Netanyahu defended Israel's actions, saying it was using legitimate
force. Any country would do the same to deal with "people wielding
knives, meat cleavers, axes, trying to kill people on their streets," he
said. Fear and loathing fuel Jerusalem knife attacks Jerusalem attacks prompt fear and defiance #intifada - Is social media to blame? Can Israel and the Palestinians contain spiralling violence? Why is Jerusalem so holy?
Despite
the heightened security measures, there were two more stabbing
incidents on Wednesday, and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli
police in the West Bank city of Bethlehem and along the Israeli border
with Gaza continued into Thursday.
Some 300 soldiers are due to be in place by Sunday to reinforce police forces in the city.
US Secretary of State is due to travel to the region soon, but details of his trip are yet to be revealed.
What is happening between Israelis and Palestinians?
There
has been a spate of stabbings of Israelis - several of them fatal - by
Palestinians since early October, and one apparent revenge stabbing by
an Israeli. The attackers have struck in Jerusalem and central and
northern Israel, and in the occupied West Bank. Israel has tightened
security and its security forces have clashed with rioting Palestinians,
leading to deaths on the Palestinian side. The violence has also spread
to the border with Gaza.
What's behind the latest unrest?
After
a period of relative quiet, violence between the two communities has
spiralled since clashes erupted at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site in
mid-September. It was fuelled by rumours among Palestinians that Israel
was attempting to alter a long-standing religious arrangement governing
the site. Israel repeatedly dismissed the rumours as incitement. Soon
afterwards, two Israelis were shot dead by Palestinians in the West Bank
and the stabbing attacks began. Both Israel and the Palestinian
authorities have accused one another of doing nothing to protect each
other's communities.
Is this a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising?
There
have been two organised uprisings by Palestinians against Israeli
occupation, in the 1980s and early 2000s. With peace talks moribund,
some observers have questioned whether we are now seeing a third. The
stabbing attacks seem to be opportunistic and although they have been
praised by militant groups, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has said
Palestinians are not interested in a further escalation. What is driving the latest violence?
