Trump: Jerusalem decision 'long overdue'

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump said Wednesday his upcoming announcement on Jerusalem is "long overdue".

Trump is expected to recognize the holy city as Israel's capital during a public address. He is also expected to order the State Department to begin the process to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

The decision will place the U.S. at odds with the rest of the world, excluding Israel, reverse decades of American policy and stymy any effort to resume long-stalled peace talks between Israel and Palestine.

In line with U.S. law, Trump will sign a six-month waiver off-setting the embassy's relocation on national security grounds, an official speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity said.

Another official called the pending actions an affirmation of "a historic and current reality".

Israel has maintained the whole of Jerusalem as the capital of its "undivided" state, and it has ramped up settlement expansion in the area following Trump's inauguration in January.

Asked if Trump has weighed potential violence that may result from Washington's changed stance, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday that "a number of things have been looked at that have been weighed into the president's decision".