Trump administration settles on facility for Jerusalem embassy, plans to move as early as next year - CNNPolitics
CNN reports: "Rather than design and build a new embassy compound, which officials say could take several years and cost as much as a billion dollars, the State Department has decided to retrofit an existing US consular facility in the West Jerusalem neighborhood of Arnona, which sits near the Green Line, the de facto border of Israel before the 1967 war.
The scaled-down plan for the embassy will cut costs and allow Ambassador David Friedman and his staff to move there as early as next year after some security enhancements are made. [...] Trump's recognition last month of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and plans to relocate the embassy there inflamed tensions in the region and sparked outrage across the world. Both Israelis and the Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their historic capitals."
Comment: A few posts ago I suggested that given the grand plans for a a new embassy that it was likely the current embassy would not be moved for many years, if ever. I stand corrected. An existing consular office will be renovated to become the new embassy next year. Very interesting development.
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