Over the past few days, media outlets have been claiming that President Donald Trump is about to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. These and other reports generated an immediate Palestinian reaction, and a senior delegation was dispatched to Washington on Dec. 2 to campaign against such American intentions.
But already 24 hours after Director of Palestinian Intelligence Majid Faraj landed in Washington, Ramallah started receiving tentative signs of the crisis calming, at least partially. While Trump has not retracted his decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel, Faraj understood from his counterparts in the American capital that the decision is not final. It may not be too late to change what the Palestinians view as an unfortunate decision.
A senior Palestinian source told Al-Monitor that during this past weekend (before the delegation was dispatched to Washington), it became clear to the Palestinian leadership that Trump is determined to carry out the declaration regarding the Israeli capital. However, it was also clear that Trump intends to delay the actual relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to a later date. The Palestinians understood that the American president will use the embassy issue as an incentive in the diplomatic relations between Israel and the Palestinians: If the Palestinians are the recalcitrant ones, then Trump will threaten them (again) with the relocation of the American legation to Jerusalem.
Indeed, on Dec. 3, the situation seemed less definitive. The president’s son-in-law, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, told the Saban Forum in Washington that Trump has not yet reached a decision regarding the recognition of Jerusalem and that he is still weighing the matter. Kushner noted that even though many correspondents say they know what the president decided, ''He's still looking at a lot of different facts, and when he makes his decision he'll be the one who wants to tell you.'' Nevertheless, Kushner did not deny reports that Trump does want to realize his election promise of relocating the US Embassy to Jerusalem, but apparently he would rather realize it later on.
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