President Donald Trump will not use his decision to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem to pressure Israel to make concessions, a senior US official told Arutz Sheva.
Some senior Israeli officials said they expected that there would be “a price” for the US to implement the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act and move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Earlier this month, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman told Channel 2 that “There is no free lunch. The opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem will come at a price, and it is worth paying it.”
But according to the senior US official, the Trump administration does not view the embassy move as a part of a reciprocal exchange with Israel, but merely the implementation of a long-delayed US law.
“As far as we’re concerned, we are not looking for something in return for moving the embassy to Jerusalem,” the official told Arutz Sheva.
The official, who is working to draw up a framework for a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, said the president had already promised not to force Israel to make concessions.
“President Trump already vowed not to force anything on Israel. There will be recommendations, but right now there’s nothing concrete on the table.”