Antony Blinken, chosen by Democratic President-elect Joe Biden as US Secretary of State, said on Tuesday, January 19, during his confirmation hearing before a Senate committee, that he pledged that the United States would retain their embassy in Jerusalem.
Outgoing Republican President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital at the end of 2017 and announced the move of the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, upsetting the line observed for decades by his predecessors.
A "two-state solution"
US President-elect Joe Biden believes, however, that the only viable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is "the two-state solution", his future Foreign Minister Antony Blinken also said.
"The president agrees with me that the best way, perhaps the only way to secure Israel's future as a democratic Jewish state, and to give the Palestinians the state to which they are entitled, is the solution said to two states, "he said.
Before the American senators, however, he recognized that such a solution was not "realistic" in the "short term", calling for the immediate future Israelis and Palestinians to "avoid unilateral measures which make it even more complex".
Donald Trump presented a year ago his peace plan for the Middle East, which grants the Palestinians only a demilitarized state and reduced to its bare minimum, with a capital on the outskirts of Jerusalem and deprived of Israeli settlements which would be annexed by the Hebrew state.
The Palestinian Authority rejected the proposal outright, denying the Trump administration mediator status.
She had already severed all contact with the United States when Donald Trump made the controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
With AFP and Reuters
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