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Week Ending June 29, 2007

Presidential Determination 2007-21 suspension of limitations under the Jerusalem Embassy Act

The President, in the interest of national security, is extending for 6 months limitations set in the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995.

 The Act was passed by Congress in 1995 and became the official policy of the US toward Jerusalem and called for the establishment of the US Embassy for Israel in Jerusalem by May 31, 1999.

The actual establishment and delays were made relatively simple by a curious provision that would not allow more than 50 percent of 1999 appropriated State Department funds to be used for acquisition and maintenance of buildings abroad unless the Secretary of State determines and reports to Congress that the US embassy in Jerusalem is opened.

The President was also given the authority to waive that provision for six months in the interest of national security. The Act was not signed by then President Clinton.

The ‘Congressional findings’ in the Act noted that Jerusalem is, in the opinion of the US government, the capital of Israel but must remain ‘an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected.’

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