USA EMBASSY MOVE TO JERUSALEM                                     

It is for the most part a common practice for countries 7hat have embassies to place them in capital cities of nations where they have political relations. The reason is obvious. The ambassadors are then conveniently close to the political leaders and their ministries.  

In 1990, the United States Senate  adopted a resolution "acknowledging Jerusalem as Israel's capital" and stating that it "strongly believes that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city." In 1991, however, United States Secretary of State James Baker stated that the United States is "opposed to the Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem and the extension of Israeli law on it and the extension of Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries.   

Historically, the US had viewed East Jerusalem as forming part of the West Bank, a territory under belligerent occupation. Nevertheless, the subsequent Clinton Administration refused to characterize East Jerusalem as being under occupation and viewed it as a territory over which sovereignty was undefined. Vice President Al Gore stated that the US viewed "united Jerusalem" as the capital of Israel. In light of this designation, the US has since abstained from Security Council resolutions which use language which construes East Jerusalem as forming part of the West Bank.                

In 1995, the US Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act which declared that Jerusalem should remain undivided and that it should be recognized as Israel's capital. In 2016, U.S. presidential election candidate Donald Trump vowed to recognize all of Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel if he won the election. In 2017, President Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and on May 14, 2018, the United States moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. 

Following the 1967 war, Israel conducted a census in East Jerusalem and granted permanent Israeli residency to those Arab Jerusalemites present at the time of the census. Those not present lost the right to reside in Jerusalem. Jerusalem Palestinians are permitted to apply for Israeli citizenship, provided they meet the requirements for naturalization—such as swearing allegiance to Israel and renouncing all other citizenships—which most of them refuse to do. At the end of 2005, 93% of the Arab population of East Jerusalem had permanent residency and 5% had Israeli citizenship.

As an aside, in 1975, I attended the Fifth United Nations Fifth  United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Prisoners that was being held at the UN Permanent headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Official Observers are so-called experts such as criminologists, criminal judges, police officers, parole officers and wardens of prisons etc. They can address the Congress but they cannot vote. The Solicitor General of Canada was the head of the Canadian delegation.  He submitted my name to the United Nations to attend the Congress as a Canadian official Observer.

After I gave a speech on terrorism, the official observer to the UN  from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)  approached me and invited me to have lunch with him. Not being one to refuse a free lunch, I accepted his offer.                                                       

I noticed that the Canadian solicitor general was watching us. I was a bit concerned since the Canadian government publicly stated that it would not talk in any manner whatsoever with the PLO since it sanctioned terrorism and had an indirect role in the massacre of Israeli participants in the Munich Olympics. There I was talking with the PLO representative to the UN.  However, I wasn’t a member of the government so I presumed that it didn’t apply to me. It turned out that my presumption was right.                       

After lunch, the solicitor general a approached me and asked me to try and get the PLO to not sanction any Palestinian attacks on our upcoming Olympic Games being held in Montreal in the following year. I was successful. Arafat, the Chairman of the PLO agreed to the terms that I set down. The PLO would no longer sanction terrorist acts in all future Olympic Games and publicly denounce terrorism. The Canadian government kept my word to the PLO that the PLO could have an office in Ottawa.                               

  Now I will get to the matter of Palestinians being part of Israel. The Official Observer of the PLO asked me to speak to the head of the Israeli delegation about the prospect of the Palestinians being accepted as Israeli citizens or alternative, the Palestinians having a section of Israel in which they could call their own. The head of the Israeli delegation told me that neither proposal was acceptable.   

        

That was a stupid decision. As it later turned out, the Palestinians were later given the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Between 2008 and 2010, approximately 4,500 Palestinians resident in East Jerusalem applied for Israeli citizenship, of which one third were accepted, one third rejected, and one third had the decision postponed.

The vast majority of the Palestinians declined the prospect of becoming Israeli citizens. I think I am safe in stating that the vast majority of Palestinians had enough of  the Israelis without having to  become Israeli citizens. 

As Palestinian residents, East Jerusalemites without Israeli citizenship have the right to vote in municipal elections and play a role in the administration of the city. Residents pay taxes, and following a 1988 Israeli Supreme Court ruling, East Jerusalem residents are guaranteed the right to social security benefits and state health care. Until 1995, those who lived abroad for more than seven years or obtained residency or citizenship in another country were deemed liable to lose their residency status in Israel.

In 1995, Israel began revoking permanent residency status from former Arab residents of Jerusalem who could not prove that their "center of life" was still in Jerusalem. This policy was rescinded four years later. In March 2000, when the Minister of the Interior, Natan Sharansky, stated that the "quiet deportation" policy would cease, the prior policy would be restored, and Arab natives to Jerusalem would be able to regain residency if they could prove that they have visited Israel at least once every three years. Since December 1995, permanent residency of more than 3,000 individuals "expired", leaving them with neither citizenship nor residency. Despite changes in policy under Sharansky, in 2006 the number of former Arab Jerusalemites to lose their residency status was 1,363, a six-fold increase on the year before.

Now I will get to the issue of the American embassy being in the city of Jerusalem.

The United States moved its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem after months of global outcry, Palestinian anger and the same time, exuberant praise from other nations.  

Feisal Abu Shahlaa, a member of the Fatah party, said the US is now viewed as “invaders” of Palestinian territories following President Donald Trump’s decision to move the country’s diplomatic headquarters from Tel Aviv. The US now officially recognizes Jerusalem City as Israel’s capital. I should point out that itt has always been the capital of Israel since Israel has been a nation.

Ruhi al Fattuh, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee echoed his party colleague’s remarks, saying that “the land the US embassy stands on was illegally occupied. He said, “The Americans continue the Israeli practice of building settlements in Palestine."

The American diplomatic compound that will serve as the American Embassy until a permanent site is found lies partly in a contested zone known as No Man’s Land.

No Man’s Land encompasses the area between the armistice lines drawn at the end of the 1948-49 war and was claimed by Jordan and Israel. Israel won full control of it in the 1967 war, so the United Nations and much of the world consider it occupied territory.

The State Department has avoided taking a clear position on the matter but relies on the fact that Israel and Jordan had informally divided the contested enclave.

The provisional embassy site, in the Arnona neighborhood, has been in continuous Israeli use since 1949.  In my opinion, the Americans and the Israelis should have picked a site that would not inflame the Palestinians.

As I see it, the specific move to the No Man’s Land area of Jerusalem was a stupid move by Trump. Does he care? No he doesn’t. And neither does the current leader of Israel. In my opinion, they are both bullies and they don’t give a Dutch dam that they have enraged the Palestinians.  Their attitude about the Palestinians is, “Drop dead.” And many have dropped dead as result of the Palestinian protesters being shot by Israeli soldiers.