For American embassy inauguration in Jerusalem, Trump may visit Israel
The President of United States, Donald Trump recently said he may visit Jerusalem for the US embassy inauguration on May 14. Standing beside German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump said he rejected the earlier $1 billion proposal to build the embassy and got it done at $400,000 instead. In December last year, Trump had formally recognized the holy city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
"I may go (to Jerusalem).. very proud of it. It's (Jerusalem Embassy) been promised for many, many years by presidents. They all made campaign promises, and they never had the courage to carry it out. I carried it out," said Donald Trump.
Trump narrated when he was approached with the $1 billion plan for the embassy, he couldn't sign it. "I had my name half-signed, then I noticed the figure, and I just didn't -- I never got to the word Trump," he said. The President said he told the ambassador in Israel they could build the embassy for $150,00; which surprised the latter.
Trump said they had a site, building, and they turned a corner of it into an embassy in three months, instead of waiting for ten years. "Let's go to $3-$400,000". And that's what we did. It's going to be beautiful, and it'll be somewhat temporary, but the time they build it the other way, it's going to be many, many years," he said.
"That's the way government works. They were going to spend $1 billion, and we're going to spend much less than a half a million. Could have done it for much less than that, but I said, 'Let's make it really nice'," said Trump.
The embassy, which is located in southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Arnona, will house an American ambassador and a small team, initially. The opening of the embassy coincides with Israel's 70th birthday in May. Making Jerusalem Israel's formal capital was seen as a provocation by Palestinians. Palestinian officials refused to meet anyone in Trump's team after the decision.
