Congress Orders Embassy Moved to Jerusalem

Congress voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to require relocation of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem--the city at the heart of the most sensitive and emotional issue facing Israelis and Palestinians--despite warnings that the step could undermine the U.S. role as Middle East mediator.

The measure, passed within hours by both the Senate and the House, orders that the embassy be moved by May 31, 1999, to the city that Israel claims as its “undivided and eternal capital.” Official U.S. policy has regarded the status of Jerusalem as unresolved since the establishment of the modern Jewish state in 1948.

The Senate voted 93 to 5 for the bill, after its primary sponsor, Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), agreed to an amendment permitting the President to postpone the effective date if he determines that moving the embassy would damage U.S. national security interests. The provision could be invoked if the U.S. Administration determined that the switch would torpedo Arab-Israeli peace talks.

The House later approved the measure, 374 to 37, and sent it to the White House. The lawmakers hurried to complete work on the legislation before a Capitol Hill ceremony today marking the 3,000th anniversary of the capture of Jerusalem by the Jewish armies of King David. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert are scheduled to participate in the observance.

White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said he welcomed the amendment permitting the President to postpone the effective date of the bill. But he said the measure remains a “very unwarranted and unnecessary intrusion in the Middle East peace process.”

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McCurry declined to say if President Clinton will sign the bill, but the vote in both chambers was well above the two-thirds majority required to override a veto.

Although Dole said the bill could have passed easily without the changes, he said that he accepted the amendment during prolonged overnight negotiations “in the interest of getting the broadest possible support--including, we hope, even the support of the White House.”

“Despite having the votes to prevail, we have demonstrated our willingness to meet the concerns raised,” Dole said.

The landslide vote, which cut across party lines, was a victory for the pro-Israel lobby on Capitol Hill, which for decades has been calling for relocation of the embassy. Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, hailed the vote as a “historic occasion” that would write into law an opinion long held by a majority of the members of the Senate and House.

Israel established its capital in Jerusalem in 1950, a time when the city was divided, with Jordan controlling the eastern neighborhoods including the walled Old City. Israel captured and annexed East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

For almost three decades since that war, the official U.S. government position has been that the status of Jerusalem--a city considered holy by Jews, Christians and Muslims--must be determined by negotiations. That policy has been maintained by seven Presidents, both Democrats and Republicans, although some--like Clinton--supported moving the embassy to Jerusalem before they were elected.

Rabin, in New York for the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, was quoted by Reuters news service: “Jerusalem is our eternal capital. It will always stay our capital, and I welcome the vote.”

Earlier, members of Rabin’s government had said privately that, although all embassies should eventually be moved to Jerusalem, it probably would be a mistake to act now with the peace process at a sensitive stage. The opposition Likud Party in Israel, which criticizes Rabin’s policy on negotiations, called for the embassy to be moved as soon as possible.

The interim agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, signed on the White House lawn two years ago, postponed negotiations over Jerusalem until the final phase of the process because the issue is so emotional that both sides wanted to avoid tackling it until all other matters are settled.

Israel has insisted that the city must remain undivided and under Israel’s sole sovereignty. The Palestinians want to establish their capital in East Jerusalem, possibly under a system of shared sovereignty.

The effective date of the legislation, May 31, 1999, is the target date for completion of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. But there is little likelihood that the deadline will be met.

James Zogby, president of the Arab-American Institute, said that the amendment allowing the President to postpone the effective date “makes the bill effectively inoperative.” But Zogby said that the measure is still unacceptable to the Arab community because it “contains language that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital. That undermines the U.S. role in the peace process.”