The Trump administration “cannot envision a scenario” under which the Western Wall, the last remnant of the Second Temple and one of the holiest sights in Judaism, “would not be part of Israel” in a future peace agreement with the Palestinians, a senior official said on Friday.
The official underscored the point in a briefing with reporters on Vice President Mike Pence’s upcoming visit to the country, hampered by a crisis with a Palestinian Authority already livid over US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital earlier this month.
Pence will visit Israel next week.
“We cannot envision any situation under which the Western Wall would not part of Israel,” the official said. “But as the president said, the specific boundaries of sovereignty of Israel are going to be part of the final status agreement.”
”We note that we cannot imagine Israel would sign a peace agreement that didn’t include the Western Wall,” the official added.
In pronouncing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital on December 6, Trump said that his administration made no judgment on the final status of who will reign sovereign over which parts of the city. Israel insists that all of Jerusalem remain its undivided and eternal capital, while the Palestinians demand a state of their own with its capital in the city’s eastern districts.
Trump was the first president to visit the wall in an official capacity during his visit there in May. The administration official said that, similarly, Pence would also venture to the wall in his role as vice president.