US Vice President Mike Pence says the US Embassy will be moving to Jerusalem by the end of next year in a shift of policy.
ADVERTISEMENTIn a speech to the Israeli parliament, US Vice President Mike Pence has confirmed the US Embassy in Israel will move to Jerusalem by the end of next year.
The shift in US policy has stoked Palestinian anger and fuelled international concern.
"Jerusalem is Israel's capital - and, as such, President Trump has directed the State Department to immediately begin preparations to move the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. United States Embassy will open before the end of next year," said the vice president.
Pence's visit was the highest-ranking by a US official to the region since Trump's Jerusalem declaration.
The speech was briefly disrupted, at the outset, by Israeli Arab parliament members who held up protest signs in Arabic and English, reading 'Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine', and were ejected by ushers.
Palestinians want East Jerusalem, including the walled Old City with its holy sites, as the capital of their own future state.
Israel, annexed East Jerusalem in 1967 in a move which is not internationally recognised.