The United States (U.S.) President-Elect Donald Trump has reiterated his promise to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and recognize the ancient city as the capital of Israel.
When posed the question over whether he has forgotten his promise about moving the embassy to Jerusalem, Trump responded: "Of course I remember what I told you about Jerusalem. Of course I haven't forgotten and you know I'm not a person to breach promises."
"I can't wait to start working with Israel. At the end of the week, the relationship between us begins in earnest," Trump added.
However, Palestinians are reacting harshly to Trump's statement, saying that such a decision would mean that the U.S. would officially recognize the Israeli capital as Jerusalem instead of Tel Aviv. Both Palestinians and Israelis have been living in Jerusalem for decades and both claim Jerusalem as their capital.
Outgoing U.S. President Obama also cautioned Trump's new team.
A U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem, President Obama cautioned, could be "explosive”.
“People feel deeply and passionately about this. The actions we take have enormous consequences and ramifications. We're the biggest kid on the block," President Obama said.
East Jerusalem is among those territories which were occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967.
Despite the fact that Israel has been applying a permanent settlement strategy on the occupied territory and claims that Jerusalem is the capital of the country; the United Nations does not accept Israel's single-sided declaration of Jerusalem as capital, as well as its presence on the lands it occupied after 1967.
