JAKARTA - The United States (US) on Friday, October 30 for the first time issued passports to US citizens born in Jerusalem stating that "Israel" is registered as the place of birth.
The US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman handed the documents to 18-year-old Menachem Zivotofsky. This comes after US President Donald Trump's policy change is likely to please pro-Israel supporters ahead of next week's US presidential election.
"You have a born nation, the state of Israel," David Friedman told the teenager, thanking Trump for "having" walked this path.
The new policy has come under fire from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who seeks to create a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital, to coexist with Israel. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Abbas, said the change in US passport policy violates international law and international resolutions.
"Trump's attempt to impose facts on the ground in a race against the time leading up to the US presidential election will not change the reality," said Nabil.
The status of Jerusalem, which contains holy sites for Muslims, Jews and Christians, is one of the most controversial issues in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Both claim the city as their capital.
Since Israel was founded in 1948, successive US governments have refused to recognize any country as having sovereignty over Jerusalem and State Department policy has only listed Jerusalem as the place of birth. The US State Department leaves resolving such sensitive issues to the disputing parties.
But in 2017, Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Even in 2018 Trump moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem which was previously in Tel Aviv. The move sparked a reaction of anger and disappointment including from European allies.
Zivotofsky's parents have long campaigned for such changes after filing a lawsuit in 2003 in federal court. But in 2015, the US Supreme Court overturned a law that would allow Jerusalem-born Americans to register Israel as their country of birth. This is considered against the law on the president's power to determine foreign policy.
The Trump administration's predecessor, Barack Obama, argued that enforcing the law would do "irreversible damage" to the US's ability to influence the Middle East peace process. Negotiations between Israel and Palestine broke down in 2014.
Trump's decision on Jerusalem was welcomed by Israel, which claims all the cities of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, including East Jerusalem. East Jerusalem was captured by Israel in the 1967 war and later annexed, a move not recognized by most of the international community.
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