U.S. ‘Discouraging’ Greater Jerusalem Bill, Official Says

The Trump administration is “discouraging” any further action on a controversial Israeli bill regarding the status of greater Jerusalem, fearing it would harm its peace effort toward a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian settlement, a senior administration official told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

“It’s fair to say that the US is discouraging actions that it believes will unduly distract the principals from focusing on the advancement of peace negotiations,” the official said. “The Jerusalem expansion bill was considered by the Administration to be one of those actions.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed an initial vote planned for Sunday on the measure, which would have annexed 19 Israeli settlements around the capital city.

US President Donald Trump’s special representative for international negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, is in the region to discuss the peace process with leaders there. His meeting with Netanyahu was a “general check-in on peace conversations,” the official said. (Read more from “U.S. ‘Discouraging’ Greater Jerusalem Bill, Official Says” HERE)

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