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Having the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv is the same as Israel having its embassy in New York City or Philadelphia or Dogpatch. The capital of Israel IS Jerusalem and has been for decades, and Congress passed legislation in 1995 mandating the move of the embassy to Jerusalem. The prexys since then have refused to do it, citing the old saw about security or war or whatever. Trump is simply enforcing that law, also just plain common sense. There is no such thing as a country of Palestine, so the Palestinians and their organizations have no government in order to have an embassy anywhere. The U.S. already has a lease on a plot of land for the embassy (secured in 1989).

The last thing Jim that this is is "common sense." That is why GOP and DNC Presidents have found security reasons not to do this. This isn't a partisan issue.

Interested to hear Jon Estes on this one.

Jordan took the West Bank as one result of the Arab-Israeli War in 1948. Israel took the West Bank in 1967 (six-day war). Jordan officially gave up sovereignty of the West Bank in 1988. The population of the West Bank is about 2.7 million and the Palestinians living there are the lucky ones compared to Gaza and the rest of Palestine. The UN has never accepted Gaza or Palestine as a nation so any illusion of them as countries is delusion.

The UN General Assembly granted Palestine status as an "entity" in 2012, which is official recognition of its status as a nation, a move approved by more countries than the recognition of Israel was. They also have diplomatic recognition and relations with about 80% of the countries in the world. The Arabic population of Palestine is historically, culturally and politically distinct from its neighbors. Degrading their nationality and their political status is a tactic aimed at keeping them scattered and disunited under Israeli occupation for the purpose of keeping political control, but it doesn't make them any less than any other people, nor does it deprive them of basic human rights.

It's a long discussion, but I don't see any Biblical entitlement for the secular, political state of Israel that exists today to have their "capital" city in Jerusalem, nor a reason for the current native Palestinian population not to have theirs there. The Trump announcement and the US policy only precipitate violence, and they serve no other purpose.

It is a formal recognition of the existence of a Palestinian state and its legitimate claim to statehood by the UN. You can put whatever definition you want on it, that's what it means. Other nations have granted full diplomatic relations to the Palestinian state. Following World War 1, when the area transitioned from Ottoman to British imperial rule, the Palestinian population was recognized, in the various partition agreements, as a nation with the right to self determination. No thought was ever given at that time to an independent Jewish state.

https://www.baptiststandard.com/opinion ... etic-sign/

Interesting spat related to this topic.