Nikki Haley: Trump sees embassy move as part of the peace process

WASHINGTON — The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said on Sunday that President Donald Trump regards the question of the American Embassy’s location in Israel as constituting part of the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians.

“I think that he knows that it could be very much a part of the peace process,” she told CNN. “What he did want to do was make sure that he wasn’t interrupting the negotiations that are happening with the peace process.”

Last week, Trump formally delayed — at least for now — his campaign pledge to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognize the city as Israel’s capital.

He signed a waiver on Thursday that defers a Congressional mandate to relocate the embassy. The 1995 law provides the US president with the prerogative to postpone the move on national security grounds. Each of Trump’s three immediate predecessors — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama — repeatedly exercised that right.

In announcing the decision, the White House said Trump was not fulfilling his campaign pledge because he wanted to “maximize the chances of successfully negotiating a deal,” something he’s been pursuing since assuming office.

Haley added to that sentiment, telling interviewer Jake Tapper that, in light of its attempts to forge peace, the administration did not want to interfere with the process.

“I think that they feel like it’s moving forward in a constructive way and he didn’t want this to get in the way,” she said.

Trump has already hosted both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House, and he visited with both leaders in the region during his first foreign trip two weeks ago.

Haley also added to another White House assurance that an embassy move was not ruled out but merely postponed.

“The question is not if that move happens, but only when,” Trump’s Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement Thursday.

“He hasn’t changed his position on moving the embassy,” Haley said. “It’s all about time. I think that he wants to see how the peace process plays out and then handle it accordingly.”

While Trump repeatedly — and emphatically — promised to move the embassy during the campaign, he demurred on that promise early in his presidency.

For her part, Haley has not been reluctant to voice her independent beliefs regarding where the embassy should be located.

“Obviously, I believe that the capital should be Jerusalem and the embassy should be moved to Jerusalem because if you look at all their government is in Jerusalem,” she told CBN News last month. “So much of what goes on is in Jerusalem and I think we have to see that for what it is.”