Romney says Jersualem is Israel’s capital, would move embassy
The American embassy in Israel, currently in Tel Aviv, should move to Jerusalem, presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney said in an interview.
“A nation has the capacity to choose its own capital city, and Jerusalem is Israel’s capital,” Romney told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in an interview set to air Monday. “I think it’s long been the policy to ultimately have our embassy in the nation’s capital of Jerusalem.”
The timing of the move, Romney said, would be made in consultation with Israel’s government.
“I would follow the same policy we have had in the past, our embassy would be in the capital, and the timing of that is something I would want to work out with the government,” Romney said.
No country’s embassy to Israel is currently situated in Jerusalem. Nearly every nation with a diplomatic mission to Israel has its embassy in or near Tel Aviv. Some countries have embassies in Mevaseret Zion, a suburb of Jerusalem. The United States currently has a consulate in Jerusalem, which provides visas and other services.
The conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians remains unresolved, at least in the eyes of international law. The original U.N. partition in 1947 envisioned Jerusalem as an international city, to be administered by the United Nations. Palestinians would like to locate the capital of a future state in East Jerusalem. So there are competing claims, and diplomatically, the easiest thing to do is to avoid taking a stand.
Moreover, international recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is a potential bargaining chip in any future peace agreement. So diplomats are loathe to give up something for free.
Was’t Jerusalem annexed by Israel, an annexation that we do not recognize because we still see it as occupied territory? And so to move our recognition of capitals from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would constitute a recognition of that annexation, which we were against in the first place because it is a violation of international law? And are we not bound by Article Six of the United States Constitution to respect treaties as the law of the land? And so in suggesting that we move the recognition to Jerusalem, Mitt Romney is in fact suggesting that as President he would break international law and various peace treaties to which we are signatory. How reminiscent of Mr. Bush who also felt absolute contempt for treaties and international law.