WASHINGTON: United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday said that it will take two years or longer before the U.S. Embassy can be physically relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
“This is not something that is going to happen this year, or probably not next year but the president does want us to move in a very concrete and steadfast way,” CNN reported, citing Tillerson as saying at a news conference with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Paris.
Speaking with his French counterpart, Tillerson said that President Donald Trump had ordered the State Department to "start the process of making the move" but that it would take time.
According to the report, he also said that Trump's decision does not "indicate any final status for Jerusalem," adding that the "final status would be left to the parties to negotiate and decide."
Le Drian stated the Jerusalem decision as one of the major issues on which the French disagree with the US.
Tillerson's comments came as scores of Palestinians demonstrated across the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza against President Donald Trump's unilateral decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Various Palestinian factions, including militant organisation Hamas, called for a day of rage on Friday against the US and Israeli occupation.
An estimated 3,000 people marched, burned Israeli flags and stamped on posters of Trump in around 30 protests across the Palestinian territories.
The participants chanted slogans against the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, calling for a revolt against Israel to "liberate Jerusalem from occupation."