JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the U.S. Embassy in Israel should be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Netanyahu's comments at his weekly Cabinet meeting appeared aimed at countering reports that Israel was concerned about the fallout of such a move, which is opposed by the Palestinians and has sparked fears of a renewed outbreak of violence. It comes a day after Netanyahu endorsed U.S. President Donald Trump's call to build a wall along the Mexican border, saying the Israeli model along its border with Egypt has proved successful.
"I would like to clarify unequivocally that our view has always been, and continues to be, that the United States' Embassy should be here in Jerusalem," Netanyahu said. "Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and it is appropriate that not only the American Embassy will be here but that all embassies will move here, and I believe that in due course most will come here, to Jerusalem."
Most foreign embassies are located in the coastal city of Tel Aviv because their countries have refrained from recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital until its status is resolved in future peace talks. The Palestinians want the West Bank and east Jerusalem -- areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war -- for their hoped-for state.
Israel has long called for the embassies to be relocated but hasn't pushed for it because of international opposition.
But Trump's rise has emboldened Israel's nationalists. His campaign platform made no mention of a Palestinian state, a cornerstone of two decades of international diplomacy in the region, and he has signaled that he will be far more tolerant of Israeli settlement construction than his predecessors.
Trump's nominee for ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who now serves as a top aide and Mideast envoy, both have deep ties to the settler movement. Kushner's family foundation and Friedman have been generous contributors to the Beit El settlement in the West Bank, and a delegation of settler representatives was invited to Trump's inauguration.
Former President Barack Obama, like many others in the international community, considered the building of settlements an obstacle to peace and frequently criticized their construction. But Trump did not comment when Israel announced a major housing drive last week.
At Sunday's Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu also said his government planned to introduce a bill this week to legalize dozens of West Bank settlement outposts.
There are about 100 outposts across the West Bank that Israel classifies as illegal but tolerates and often allows to flourish. The bill is being pushed by the pro-settler Jewish Home party, which has threatened to quit Netanyahu's coalition if the measure isn't approved.
The bill was cited as one of the reasons the Obama administration allowed a U.N. Security Council resolution that challenged the legality of the settlements.
U.S. officials said that after previously vetoing resolutions against Israel, they felt compelled to abstain because of continued Israeli settlement construction and efforts to retroactively legalize dozens of them in exchange for compensation for the original Palestinian landowners.
Elsewhere on Sunday, Israeli troops killed an 18-year-old Palestinian and wounded five others after the troops came under attack in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.
Palestinian police said a group of people hurled rocks at the Israeli troops, who responded with gunfire and fatally shot Mohammed Khalefeh. The Israeli military said its forces were attacked with pipe bombs before they responded. Israeli forces routinely carry out arrest raids in the West Bank against Palestinian militants.
Since 2015, Palestinian attackers have carried out numerous stabbings, shootings and vehicular assaults that killed 40 Israelis and two visiting Americans. Israeli forces have killed 235 Palestinians in the same period, most identified by Israel as attackers.
Palestinians and rights groups have accused Israel of using excessive force in some of the confrontations.
Israel says the violence is fueled by a Palestinian campaign of incitement compounded on social media sites that glorify and encourage attacks. Palestinians say it stems from frustration over decades of Israeli rule in territory they claim for a future state.
A Section on 01/30/2017