US will open embassy in Jerusalem next year: Pence

The US vice president urges Palestine to return to peace talks after he landed in Israel. Palestinians are boycotting Pence over US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

US Vice President Mike Pence (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a formal reception ceremony at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, January 22, 2018.
Reuters

US Vice President Mike Pence (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a formal reception ceremony at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, January 22, 2018.

Vice President Mike Pence is "strongly" urging the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table.

In a speech to the Israeli parliament, Pence said on Monday that "peace can only come through dialogue."

Ever since December 6 when US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Palestinians have observed several "Days of Rage" in protest. 

Palestinians say the US cannot be trusted as a mediator and that they will reject any peace plan the Trump administration presents.

Pence told the parliament that Israel "can be confident" that the US will never compromise Israel's security. 

TRT World's Shamim Chowdhury reports. 

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US embassy in Jerusalem 

Pence said the United States will open its embassy in Jerusalem next year, ahead of schedule.

Speaking at the Knesset, Pence defended the controversial decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, which has been condemned by the Palestinians and their Arab allies.

Pence says the administration will advance its plan in the coming weeks and the embassy will open by the end of 2019. Previous estimates had been the move would take three or four years.

The Palestinians claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital. 

The speech was briefly disrupted, at the outset, by Israeli Arab parliament members who held up protest signs in Arabic and English, reading “Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine,” and were ejected by ushers.

Ayman Odeh, leader of the Joint Arab List, said it was the party's democratic right to boycott the US vice president. In a tweet, he said the party will not provide a "silent backdrop" to a man he called a "dangerous racist."

Netanyahu called the boycott a disgrace. He and other gave Pence a standing ovation.

TRT World  spoke to Israel Shamir, a political thinker and writer regarding Pence's visit to the Middle East.

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High-level visit

This is the highest-level US visit to the region since Trump on December 6 recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital and promised to begin the process of moving the American embassy to the city, whose status is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Nor is Pence, an evangelical Christian who has been vocal on the subject of protecting Christians in the Middle East, scheduled to make any private trips to Palestinian areas such as Bethlehem, a city whose Christian significance usually draws Western dignitaries.

Outraged at Trump's Jerusalem declaration, a move that reversed decades of US policy on the city's status, the Palestinians are snubbing Pence. 

President Mahmoud Abbas left for an overseas visit before the vice president's arrival.

Palestinians slam Pence

On Monday, the Palestinians issued an angry reaction to Pence's speech, saying it was a "gift to extremists."

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said Pence's speech "has proven that the US administration is part of the problem rather than the solution."

Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said: "If the United States wanted to a play a role of a mediator in the peace process it must be a fair mediator and it must abide by (international) resolutions."

Trump has made no firm public commitment on the timing of a Jerusalem embassy, saying, "By the end of the year? We're talking about different scenarios – I mean, obviously, that would be on a temporary basis."

This US visit gives Pence and Netanyahu — a conservative who has hailed US evangelicals for their support of Israel — an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the visit and their own warm relationship for a conservative American Christian community that serves as a power base for Trump and his vice president.

Palestinian Christians criticise Pence

Palestinian Christians said that Pence's brand of evangelical Christianity, with its fervent embrace of modern-day Israel as fulfillment of biblical prophecy, lacks their faith's compassion and justice, including for those who have endured half a century of Israeli occupation.

"For me, it's a sick ideology," said Munib Younan, the recently retired bishop of the small Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and former president of the Lutheran World Federation, an umbrella for churches with millions of believers.

"When I say Jesus is love, they want my Jesus to be a political Jesus," Younan, 67, a Jerusalem-born Palestinian, said at his West Bank church.

Gaza-based Bethlehem Christian Nadia Hazboun said, "We are the authentic Christians and we live with our brothers, the Muslims, without any problem." 

"He would need to change his thoughts and behavior ... and recognise the rights of Arab Palestinian Christians who are the people of this land, to support their rights to have their independence, their freedom and east Jerusalem as our capital," said Salman, a Roman Catholic.

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