While US President Donald Trump declared last Wednesday that his country recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a senior US State Department official made it clear the next day that Jerusalem may be recognized as Israel's capital, but his department would not change its rule of many years' standing that the passport of a US citizen born in Jerusalem lists the place of birth as "Jerusalem," not "Jerusalem, Israel," as listed in the passports of US citizens born in other cities in Israel, or anywhere else in the world, for example, "Givatayim, Israel." The official added that even the classification of Jerusalem on official US maps would not be changed until a new decision is made in the matter.
Here is a section of comic dialogue between US State Department Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, David Satterfield and veteran Associated Press correspondent Matt Lee at a State Department briefing for reporters on Thursday.
Lee: "What is the capital of Israel?"
Satterfield: "The President announced yesterday, issued a proclamation declaring the US recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel."
Lee: "So the answer to the question is Jerusalem, correct?"
Satterfield: "That’s exactly right."
Lee: "What country is Jerusalem in?"
Satterfield: "The President recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel."
Lee: "Does that mean then that the US Government officially recognizes that Jerusalem municipality lies within the state of Israel?"
Satterfield: "There has been no change in our policy with respect to consular practice or passport issuance at this time, which is what I think you are raising."
Lee: "Well, that’s what - I wanted to know what the practical implications of this decision are not in terms of necessarily broad policy, the peace process, whatever, but things like maps. Will they be withdrawn? Will the passport issue - will passports now identify Jerusalem as being within Israel if the person was born there? What about official documents? Will they say Jerusalem, comma, Israel? What about the mailing address of the consulate or the street address of the consulate?"
Satterfield: "I’ve already commented that on consular practice there is no change at this time. With respect to maps, we are, of course, examining that issue, and when we have a decision we will announce it with respect to how we will treat Jerusalem for official USG-produced mapping purposes."
Lee: "Okay. So that sounds to me like within these areas there is no practical impact (of the declaration of recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital)."
Satterfield: "Well, in consular practice there is no impact."
The State Department later corrected Satterfield's remarks about official maps. In an announcement, the State Department said that officials were considering ways of citing Jerusalem as Israel's capital on these maps such as bold letters, underlined letters, or putting a star next to the city's name. In any case, the maps will not be redrawn.
Several members of Congress responded angrily to what looked to them like a deliberate effort by the State Department to sabotage the president's policy, but it appears that the State Department is working hand in hand with the White House on this question. A State Department spokesperson said that that the US was not abandoning its efforts to encourage the parties to settle the conflict between them on question of the final status in a comprehensive peace agreement, adding that the specific borders of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem were subject to final status negotiations. The spokesperson stated that the US was not taking a position on these borders - almost the same wording used by Trump in his Jerusalem recognition speech on Wednesday.
A senior advisor to a Republican member of Congress told "Globes" yesterday that the apparent inconsistency between Satterfield's statements about passports and official maps and Trump's speech was nothing other than coordination between the White House and the State Department, with the State Department's measures complementing those of the White House. The US National Security Council is trying to balance between the new US policy of recognizing Jerusalem and the essential need to restart the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, which explains the strong emphasis on the statement that the specific borders of Jerusalem will be determined only in final status negotiations.
State Department decision makers posted the video of Satterfield's briefing on passports and maps as the main feature on the home page of the State Department's website for the entire weekend.
"Anyone who claims that leaving the rules for issuing passports unchanged is a sign of friction between the State Department and the White House, a revolt of the diplomats, if you will, does not know what he is talking about," the Congressional source declared. "Both the diplomats and Trump want to signal to the parties that the fate of Jerusalem is in fact in their hands."
At the same time, several Republican lawmakers identified with the right wing of the party are angry about the State Department's actions. "Following the President's historic recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, bureaucratic intransigence at State shouldn't block reflecting it on passports," Senator Ted Cruz (Republican, Texas) tweeted.
"The president is the commander-in-chief and America's sole organ when it comes to conducting foreign policy," Representative Ron DeSantis (Republican, Florida), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the "Free Beacon" rightwing website. "Article II of the Constitution does not vest this authority in bureaucrats in the State Department."
Certain Jewish groups in the US and Israel have wanted for a long time to force the State Department to write, "Jerusalem, Israel" if the passport holder was born in the city. The family of Menachem Binyamin Zivotofsky, a US citizen born in Jerusalem in 2002, instituted legal action in the US to force the administration to put "Israel" next to "Jerusalem" in the child's passport. The lawsuit went through the legal system, but Congress eventually passed legislation requiring the State Department to put the words "Jerusalem" and "Israel" next to each other on passports. The US Supreme Court ruled that Congress had no authority to intervene in the State Department's administrative matters, and struck down the law. It appears that the Trump administration's recognition of Jerusalem will not change this situation.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on December 10, 2017
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