About time < Despite warnings, Trump to declare
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Jerusalem the capital of Israel with embassy move
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Despite appeals and warnings from world leaders, President Donald Trump is poised to reverse decades of U.S. policy on Wednesday by declaring Jerusalem Israel’s capital and beginning the process of moving the U.S. Embassy to the holy city, a step that threatens to spark unrest across the Middle East and undermine American efforts to forge a new peace plan.
Trump placed a flurry of phone calls to Arab leaders Tuesday, on the eve of a policy address in which he plans to explain the move, and fielded protests from Arab, Palestinian and European leaders to his plan, according to foreign officials. The State Department, meanwhile, warned U.S. embassies around the world to prepare for possible protests and violence and banned travel by government employees and their families to Jerusalem’s Old City and the West Bank.
The U.S. will delay the actual embassy relocation for now to address logistical and security challenges, officials said, but U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital also will come as a potent diplomatic step with implications for regional peace.
The president in his 1 p.m. Eastern speech Wednesday will direct the State Department to begin the process of moving the embassy, including by identifying and constructing a new facility in Jerusalem, administration officials said Tuesday.