Israel and the US have signed an agreement under which Washington will receive a plot of land in West Jerusalem that was owned by Palestinians before 1948 for $1 under a 99-year lease to build the permanent site of the US Embassy in the city.
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee signed the agreement on Wednesday in the presence of Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion to allocate the land for the permanent US Embassy compound in West Jerusalem, the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The lease agreement for the land is for 99 years, and the United States will pay Israel the sum of $1,” Huckabee said.
During his first term in office in December 2017, US President Donald Trump ordered the transfer of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv. The embassy’s temporary site opened in May 2018.
The decision drew broad international criticism at the time for violating the international consensus on Jerusalem’s status.
In 2022, Adalah, a rights group in Israel, said the land allocated for the embassy compound had been confiscated from Palestinians under Israel’s 1950 Absentees’ Property Law.
