By Munir K. Nasser
Washington, DC
An Arab American organization sent a letter of protest to the State Department about a remark by one of its officials about the proposed site on which the United States plans to build an embassy in Jerusalem.
The American Committee on Jerusalem (ACJ) sent a letter to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright objecting to a comment of an unidentified State Department official in which he said legal disputes over the land on which the future US Embassy will be built in Jerusalem must be settled by the Israeli courts.
Responding to the controversy, Assistant Secretary of State Edward Walker said it is not the business of the US government to deal with this issue. "It is up to the government of Israel to provide titles to a property which is free and clear. It is not our business until there is a property offered to us which is free and clear," he stressed.
Walker, who was talking on an Arab American television program in Washington on Tuesday, said the US is not renting this property, but it had an option which was offered as part of an agreement with the government of Israel regarding properties in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. "That agreement has never been fulfilled," he stressed.
A State Department official confirmed to Albawaba.com that Albright has received the ACJ letter and that it was still under consideration. He refused, however, to comment on the controversy, saying that the legal issues concerning the proposed site will not be discussed with the press.
In its letter to Albright, ACJ was objecting to a remark by an unidentified State Department official published in the Washington Post last Sunday in which he was quoted as saying, "Any legal dispute over the ownership has to be settled in the Israeli courts. This is up to the Israelis, to adjudicate ownership of this property." The official was responding to an article about a new ACJ report, The Ownership of the US Embassy Site in Jerusalem by Dr. Walid Khalidi.
In the letter to Albright, ACJ's legal counsel, George Salem, stated: "This articulated position is directly contrary to the historic position of the United States with respect to land in Jerusalem. The United States has unequivocally and consistently stated, ever since 1948 when the State of Israel was created, that the United States does not accept the sovereignty of any state over any part of Jerusalem."
Salem stressed in his letter: "Any suggestion that the land ownership claims of the Palestinian heirs, many of whom are United Sates citizens, should be relegated to the Israeli courts for adjudication flies in the face of the US foreign policy, US and international law and all notions of fundamental fairness."
Commenting on the State department’s statement, ACJ President Dr. Rashid Khalidi noted that the unnamed spokesman's suggestion that questions of property ownership in Jerusalem be referred to the Israeli courts ignored the fact that these issues were in fact related to refugee rights of return and of restitution of property, which are supposed to be dealt with in negotiations between the parties.
Khalidi stressed, "These remarks betray a disturbing absence of a grasp of the sensitive issues involved, and a lamentable bias in favor of Israel's position. Calling for Israeli courts to adjudicate these matters is akin to asking the fox to sit in judgment on crimes in the chicken coop."
Responding to ACJ's criticism on the US position on Jerusalem, the State Department official told Albawaba.com that the "US does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital." He added that "the whole point of not having the Embassy in Jerusalem is the fact that we recognize Jerusalem as a final status issue to be negotiated between the parties, and we kept our Embassy in Tel Aviv for that reason."
When asked to comment on the issue of ownership of the proposed site of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, the official said that "President Clinton's remark "that he will make a decision on moving the Embassy to Jerusalem before the end of the year still stands." He added that he couldn't comment on what's happening because the fact remains that parties are negotiating these very questions right now. "We can't be seen as getting out in front of any body while they are getting these things ready for the next round of negotiations," he said – Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
