Daily Times

WASHINGTON: The White House said in a statement on Sunday that United States President Donald Trump invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Washington in early February.

The invitation was made through a phone call during which the two discussed the importance of strengthening the US-Israeli relationship.

Trump also stressed his “unprecedented commitment to Israel’s security”. The statement further said that both the leaders had agreed upon working closely on a range of regional issues, including the threats posed by Iran.

Trump also emphasised the fact that peace between Israel and Palestine could only be negotiated upon by the two parties themselves, but the United States would work with Israel to achieve that goal.

Previously, relations between the two countries had hit troubled waters when the United States had declined to veto a UN Security Council resolution calling for a halt to building of settlements by Israel.

Interestingly, the statement did not include any mention of moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, an action that had generated controversy around the world, because many see the moving of the US embassy to a disputed territory as a declaration of US acceptance of Jerusalem as Israeli territory.

Any decision by the US to move the embassy to Jerusalem is likely to prompt protests from US allies in the Middle East that Washington relies on to fight the Islamic State militant group.

In early December, Obama had renewed the presidential waiver on an embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem until the beginning of June. It is yet unclear whether Trump would be able to legally overturn the waiver and go ahead with the relocation of the embassy.