JERUSALEM (Reuters) – U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem will now be able to list Israel as their birthplace on their passports, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Thursday, in a nod to Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Five years ago, when Barack Obama was in the White House, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a law that would have let Jerusalem-born Americans list Israel on their passports as their country of birth, saying it unlawfully encroached on presidential powers to set foreign policy.
The future status of Jerusalem, a city holy to Muslims, Jews and Christians, is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy and recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
In his statement on Thursday, Pompeo said the decision to allow Jerusalem-born U.S. citizens to choose to enter Israel or Jerusalem as their birthplace was “consistent” with Trump’s 2017 proclamation.
(Writing by Jeffrey Heller)
