Among the numerous stops on his itinerary, US President Joe Biden is expected to visit Augusta Victoria Hospital in east Jerusalem while in Israel. As no American president has ever visited a Palestinian institution in east Jerusalem, such a move would be unprecedented in nature and deviate from customary protocol.
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Biden's east Jerusalem visit has sparked opposition among politicians and public figures in Israel and the US. Last week, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, penned a letter to the American press in which he called on the US president not to visit east Jerusalem.
In the wake of the letter and conversations Danon has held in recent days with US lawmakers, an initiative has emerged in Congress over the past week to change Biden's itinerary and cancel his tour of east Jerusalem.
Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne of Texas has begun circulating a petition calling on Biden not to visit the hospital.
"As you know," the petition says, "Jerusalem has already been recognized as the capital of Israel. This has been the United States' consistent position since the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, which rejects the partition of Jerusalem."
The US lawmakers emphasized in the petition that Biden himself supported Jerusalem's unification in the past.
"The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, which you supported as a senator, affirms the United States' policy of preserving Jerusalem as a united city while upholding freedom of religion and equal rights for all religious and ethnic groups," the petition says.
The petition also warns that such a visit would "reward the Palestinian Authority, which continues to support terrorist activities, terrorist attacks, and violence against Israeli citizens on the Temple Mount."
Dozens of congressmen were expected to sign the petition, which will be presented to the president on Tuesday.
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