US, Israel ink land deal for permanent embassy complex in Jerusalem

US to pay Israel $1 for 99-year lease on Jerusalem property that will serve as the site of the permanent American embassy in Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel and the United States signed an agreement Wednesday allocating land in Jerusalem for the construction of a permanent American embassy compound, advancing a process that began after Washington recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee signed the agreement at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, with Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion also attending the ceremony.

The new embassy complex is planned for the Allenby Compound in southern Jerusalem, near the current US Embassy site.

The United States now operates its embassy from the former US Consulate building in Jerusalem, which was redesignated after President Donald Trump moved the embassy from Tel Aviv in 2018.

“Today is another historic day for the US-Israel relationship as the US receives the property that will be the future home of the new US Embassy complex — deepening and expanding our presence in Jerusalem — the eternal capital of Israel,” Huckabee said in a statement shared by Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

Speaking at the ceremony, Huckabee said the United States “recognizes Jerusalem as the eternal, indigenous and forever capital of the Jewish people.”

“We are going to plant our flag, our American flag, on the soil of Jerusalem for a permanent and a brand-new embassy compound that will serve as our mothership of diplomatic activities here in Israel,” he said.

“I would say God made that decision 3,800 years ago, and we finally got around to acknowledging what had been determined long before the United States of America came along.”

Sa’ar said the agreement marked “another milestone in the unbreakable alliance between Israel and the United States,” and described Israel as Washington’s “most important strategic asset in the Middle East.”

Trump’s “historic decision in 2017 to move the embassy to Jerusalem set the record straight,” Sa’ar said. “And today, with the agreement to begin building a permanent embassy complex, that decision becomes even deeper and more enduring.”

“Just as the United States is indispensable and irreplaceable to Israel, Israel is indispensable to the United States and to its interests throughout this region,” Sa’ar added.

Huckabee said the lease would run for 99 years and that the United States would pay Israel $1 for the land.

“The lease agreement for the land is for 99 years and the United States will pay Israel the sum of $1,” Huckabee said.

The Allenby site, formerly known as the Allenby Barracks, housed a British Mandate-era military facility and later an Israeli Border Police station. Jerusalem municipal authorities approved plans in 2021 for construction of the embassy building on the compound, after the broader plan for a permanent embassy structure was approved in 2019.

Lion said the agreement turned Trump’s Jerusalem decision “from paper into stone,” adding that Jerusalem “was and will always be our eternal capital.”

“I want to extend my deepest gratitude to President Trump for standing with Jerusalem, to Ambassador Mike Huckabee, a true defender of our city, and to Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar for leading this vital process,” Lion said.