Jordan to be in ‘close contact’ with US over embassy move

AMMAN — Jordan will have a series of contacts with the US to discuss the implications of President Donald Trump's pledge to relocate the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a top government official said on Monday.

“We are going to have a series of contacts with the US at various levels regarding this issue to discuss the very sensitive and serious implications of moving the embassy,” said Mohammad Momani, minister of state for media affairs.

The White House said on Sunday that it is in the early stages of talks to fulfil Trump's pledge to make the move, an action that would likely spark anger in the Arab world.

"We are at the very beginning stages of even discussing this subject", White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement.

However, the Kingdom hopes and is sure that the early deliberations mean that the US “will be discussing and listening to the opinions and advice of its closest allies, with which they are fighting wars together”, Momani, who is also the government’s spokesperson, told The Jordan Times. 

“Jordan will be in close coordination with our American friends to discuss this issue,” he said.

The move, if implemented, means that a unified Jerusalem will be recognised by Washington as the capital of Israel.

Jordan has been fighting for preserving the Arab-Islamic identity of Jerusalem in the face of consistent Israeli practices aiming at Judaising the city and emptying it of its indigenous Arab population.

Amman has spearheaded efforts that culminated in a series of UNESCO resolutions confirming the Arabic character of the city.