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Trump’s Big Gamble on Jerusalem

By Joshua Jamerson, The Wall Street Journal

President Donald Trump is expected to make a speech today announcing his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv. The decision, because of Jerusalem’s disputed status with the Palestinians, could derail a Middle East peace effort that the White House had been working on, and it could also lead to violence across the Middle East, report Felicia Schwartz and Dion Nissenbaum from Washington and Rory Jones in Tel Aviv.

The decision could also reverberate politically. Mr. Trump during the campaign criticized President Barack Obama as not being a good ally to Israel, promising that his administration would reinvigorate an alliance tested by Mr. Obama’s pursuit of a nuclear deal with Iran, a longtime Israeli adversary. The move the president is expected to announce today—while it is at odds with Arab, Palestinian and European leaders who have argued that decisions over the highly sensitive issue of the status of Jerusalem should be made in negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians—would fulfill a campaign pledge.

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