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The United States was the first country to recognize the nascent State of Israel on May 14, 1948. Since the 1960s, the Israel–U.S. relationship has grown into a mutually beneficial alliance in economic, strategic and military aspects. The U.S. has provided strong support for Israel: it has played a key role in the promotion of good relations between Israel and its neighbouring Arab states—notably Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt—while holding off hostility from countries such as Syria and Iran. In turn, Israel provides a strategic American foothold in the region as well as intelligence and advanced technological partnerships in both the civilian and military worlds. During the Cold War, Israel was a vital counterweight to Soviet influence in the region. Relations with Israel are an important factor in the U.S. government's overall foreign policy in the Middle East; the U.S. Congress has placed considerable importance on the maintenance of a supportive relationship. The relationship has been marked by the strong influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobby which has its own political action committee (PAC); it has been called one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the United States.
The status of Jerusalem has been described as "one of the most intractable issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict" due to the long-running territorial dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, both of which claim it as their capital city. Part of this issue of sovereignty is tied to concerns over access to holy sites in the Abrahamic religions; the current religious environment in Jerusalem is upheld by the "Status Quo" of the former Ottoman Empire. As the Israeli–Palestinian peace process has primarily navigated the option of a two-state solution, one of the largest points of contention has been East Jerusalem, which was part of the Jordanian-annexed West Bank until the beginning of the Israeli occupation in 1967.
The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 is a public law of the United States passed by the 104th Congress on October 23, 1995. The proposed law was adopted by the Senate (93–5), and the House (374–37). The Act became law without a presidential signature on November 8, 1995.
Hady Amr is an American government official serving as special representative for Palestinian affairs since 22 November 2022. He was previously Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs within the U.S. Department of State. The new position is a significant upgrade in relations with Palestine. He was appointed to the role under President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021. He was born in Lebanon, and has close ties to the region, being praised by both Israeli and Palestinian leaders alike.
The United States and Norway have a very long tradition of positive relations.
Somalia–United States relations are bilateral relations between the Federal Republic of Somalia and the United States of America. Somalia has an embassy in Washington, D.C., and the United States maintains an embassy in Mogadishu which was reopened in late 2019.
The Consulate General of the United States in Jerusalem was a diplomatic mission of the United States of America that provided consular services to Palestinian residents in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. It was not accredited to any government. In May 2018, the United States relocated its Tel Aviv embassy to Jerusalem, and in mid-October 2018, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the consulate general would be merged with the new US Embassy in Jerusalem and that relations with the Palestinians would be conducted through a special Palestinian Affairs Unit inside the embassy. On 4 March 2019, the consulate general was merged into the US Embassy and formally ceased operations. In May 2021, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that Washington will reopen the consulate, without specifying a date. In September 2021, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called on the US administration to speed up the reopening of the consulate general in Jerusalem to handle direct contacts with the Palestinians.
Alexandra Uteev "Alix" Johnson was a United States Foreign Service Officer from 1972 to 1979. She is notable for the controversy that arose in 1979 over two reports that she wrote alleging that Israeli authorities systematically used physical abuse to interrogate Palestinian detainees.
China–Palestine relations, also referred to as Sino–Palestinian relations, encompass the long bilateral relationship between China and Palestine dating back from the early years of the Cold War.
Political relations between the State of Palestine and the United States have been complex and strained since the 1960s. While the U.S. does not recognize the State of Palestine, it recognizes the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the legitimate representative entity for the Palestinian people; following the Oslo Accords, it recognized the Palestinian National Authority as the legitimate Palestinian government of the Palestinian territories.
The Branch Office of the Embassy of the United States of America in Tel Aviv is part of the diplomatic mission of the United States in the State of Israel. The complex opened in 1966, and is located at 71 HaYarkon Street in Tel Aviv. It served as the United States Embassy until May 14, 2018, when the seat of embassy was relocated to Jerusalem.
As of June 2024, the State of Palestine is recognized as a sovereign state by 146 of the 193 member states of the United Nations, or just over 75% of all UN members. It has been a non-member observer state of the United Nations General Assembly since November 2012. This limited status is largely due to the fact that the United States, a permanent member of the UN Security Council with veto power, has consistently used its veto or threatened to do so to block Palestine's full UN membership.
Zivotofsky v. Kerry, 576 U.S. 1 (2015), is a United States Supreme Court decision that held that the president, as head of the executive branch, has exclusive power to recognize foreign nations; as such, Congress may not require the State Department to indicate in passports that Jerusalem is part of Israel.
On December 6, 2017, the United States of America officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital city of the State of Israel. American president Donald Trump, who signed the presidential proclamation, also ordered the relocation of the American diplomatic mission to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, constituting what is now the Embassy of the United States in Jerusalem, which was established on the grounds of the former Consulate General of the United States in Jerusalem. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the decision and praised the announcement by the Trump administration. On December 8, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson clarified that Trump's statement "did not indicate any final status for Jerusalem" and "was very clear that the final status, including the borders, would be left to the two parties to negotiate and decide" in reference to the recognition's impact on the Israeli–Palestinian peace process.
The Embassy of the United States of America in Jerusalem is the diplomatic mission of the United States of America to the State of Israel. It is located in Talpiot, a neighborhood in southeastern Jerusalem. In mid-October 2018, Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State under the Trump administration, declared that the new embassy would be merging with the Consulate General, through which the United States had maintained diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Authority. Currently, all diplomacy between the United States and the Palestinians is conducted through the "Office of Palestine Affairs" inside of the American embassy for Israel.
Karen Hideko Sasahara is an American diplomat who has served as United States ambassador to Kuwait since November 2023. She previously served as consul general in Jerusalem until the US embassy spokesperson in Israel moved to Jerusalem, and the US consulate closed down.
Donald Armin Blome is an American diplomat serving as the United States ambassador to Pakistan since 2022. He also served as the United States ambassador to Tunisia from 2019 to 2022.