RAMALLAH, June 4, 2011 (WAFA) – Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh Saturday welcomed a decision by US President Barack Obama not to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, describing it as encouraging.

Obama informed the Congress that the embassy will not be relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem citing 'national security interests” as the reason for his decision.

This decision is “encouraging and it is consistent with President Obama’s vision of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders,” said Abu Rudeineh.

He told WAFA that Obama’s position is proof that neither the US nor the world recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

“The world has made it clear that East Jerusalem has been occupied since 1967 and that it is the capital of the State of  Palestine in the framework of the two-state solution,” he said.

Congress passed a pro-Israel law in 1995 relocating the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The law, however, left the final decision to the American president, who can invoke national security as a reason for not enforcing the law but has to notify Congress every six months of his decision.

Former presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush took a similar position as Obama regarding relocation of the embassy on concern it might undermine US mediation for a Mideast peace settlement.

M.N./M.A.