Trump's UN nominee supports US embassy move to Jerusalem

Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, told senators Wednesday that she supports the president-elect’s plan to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Haley, the 44 year-old governor of South Carolina and daughter of Indian immigrants, was asked at her senate confirmation hearing if she supported Trump's campaign trail promise to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.

"Absolutely," Haley said. "And not only is that what Israel wants, but that is what this Congress has said that is what they support."

If the US embassy is moved to Jerusalem, it would break decades of US policy and be at odds with the overwhelming majority of other nations, which believe the status of Jerusalem must be resolved through negotiation.

Outgoing secretary of state John Kerry believes that moving it to Jerusalem would be "explosive" since both Israel and the Palestinians claim the city as their capital.

"You'd have an explosion, an absolute explosion in the region, not just in the West Bank, and perhaps even in Israel itself, but throughout the region," Kerry told CBS.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas last week said he may consider "reversing recognition" of Israel if Trump moves the US embassy to Jerusalem.

"I wrote to President-elect Trump to ask him not to do it. Not only would this move deprive the United States of all legitimacy in playing a role in conflict resolution, it would also destroy the two-state solution," Abbas was quoted as saying in French daily Le Figaro last Friday.

The final status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest issues in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel considers the Jerusalem - including East Jerusalem, the Palestinian section occupied by Israel since 1967 and annexed in 1980 - as its indivisible capital.

The Palestinians however want to make East Jerusalem the capital of their future state.