Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announced that the State Department will consider allowing U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem to list “Jerusalem, Israel” on their U.S. passports.
“We’re constantly evaluating the way we handle what can be listed on passports,” he told JNS in a wide-ranging interview. “It’s something that’s actively being looked at.”
The Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry responded to this in a statement published in Wafa News saying the move was “an emphasis by the administration of President Donald Trump to antagonize the Palestinian people and undermine any chance for peace on the basis of a two-state solution.”
The two-state solution proposes creatin a Palestinian political entity by ethnically cleansing Judea and Samaria of all Jews in the manner that was done in Gaza in 2005. In theory, the Palestinians would promise to end all hostilities towards Israel, though this aspect of the plan has not been confirmed by the Palestinian Authority.
The PA Foreign Ministry statement told Wafa that “just thinking in this direction is a violation of international law and international legitimacy decisions.”
The Palestinian Authority’s vision of a Palestinian State includes a capital in Jerusalem. Though it is believed that this Palestinian capital would be based in the eastern section of the city, the PA objected to the U.S. moving its embassy to western Jerusalem. The moving of the embassy was the result of a law passed in congress almost 25 years ago called the Jerusalem Embassy Act that was adopted by the Senate (93–5) and the House (374–37) and became law without a presidential signature on November 8, 1995. The Act recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel and called for Jerusalem to remain an undivided city. Despite passage, the law allowed the President to invoke a six-month waiver of the application of the law, and reissue the waiver every six months on “national security” grounds. The waiver was repeatedly renewed by Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama. President Trump signed the waiver once before announcing his intention to carry out the law.
Author’s Note: The PA is not insisting that Palestinians born in East Jerusalem be listed as “Jerusalem Palestine”. They do not have a positive agenda for the advancement of the Palestinian people’s national aspirations. Their sole interest is to wipe out the Jewish people even at the expense of their own. This has been taken even further by Hamas in Gaza.
