Image by Johny Finn

By Naomi Zeveloff January 25, 2017

Palestinian officials were told that the Trump administration is in no rush to move the U.S. embassy from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, according to reports in Israel’s Haaretz and the London Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.

The assurances were reportedly a relief to the Palestinian leadership, which had warned that such a move would undermine negotiations over the final status issues in talks over a Palestinian state, and possibly lead to a violent flareup in the region.

An Israeli official told Army Radio that Israel understands that such a move could take time. Israel is “sitting in the bleachers,” Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

A Palestinian official later sought to deny the report that Ramallah had been told the move was on the back burner.

President Donald Trump had promised to make the embassy move a major priority in his first days in office, turning it into a campaign issue.

But he may be getting cold feet on the explosive issue.

Earlier in the week White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that the U.S. was in the “very early stages of that decision-making process” over the embassy move.

Contact Naomi Zeveloff at [email protected]

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount