Netanyahu, Pence Laud Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital

Rasa - US Vice President Mike Pence said the US administration’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would aid peace talks and expressed hope the sides were at a “new dawn” of negotiations Monday, as he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a trip overshadowed by Ramallah’s refusal to regard the US as a peace broker.

News ID: 435938

Date: 22 January 2018 - 18:04

RNA - Pence said it was his “great honor… to be in Israel’s capital, Jerusalem,” in a meeting with Netanyahu Monday, a day after he landed in the country, Times of Israel reported.

Pence repeated the administration stance that US President Donald Trump’s “historic” declaration “would create an opportunity to move on, in good faith negotiations, between Israel and the Palestinian Authority on issues that can be discussed and President Trump truly believes can be resolved.”

“I’m hopeful that we’re at the dawn of a new era of renewed discussions to achieve a peaceful resolutions to the decades-long conflict that has affected this region,” he stressed.

Netanyahu told Pence he had never before been able to join a foreign leader in calling the city the capital.

“This is the first time that I’m standing when both leaders can say those three words, ‘Israel’s capital, Jerusalem',” Netanyahu said according to a statement from his office.

“I want to thank President [Donald] Trump and you for that historic statement, which I know you supported and championed,” Netanyahu stated, adding that “I look forward to discussing with you, as we’ve just begun, how to further strengthen our remarkable alliance — it’s never been stronger — and how to advance peace and security in our region, which is our common aim.”

Pence and his wife Karen arrived at Ben-Gurion airport Sunday evening as part of a wider tour of Middle Eastern countries which comes amid simmering Palestinian anger at Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Pence is the first senior official of the Trump administration to visit the Middle East since US declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, while the visit comes amid widespread anger in the Arab world over the decision by Washington.

Pence, who arrived in Cairo on Saturday to start his first Middle East tour, travels on Sunday to Jordan and to Israel later the same day. He is scheduled to address the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, on Monday.

His trip had originally been scheduled for December but was postponed because of the furor over the Jerusalem decision, which broke with decades of international diplomacy.

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