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Although Trump spoke of relocating the embassy as if the issue had already been decided, an adviser to the Serbian president said on Wednesday that “the decision is not final”.
“We have not yet accepted anything, nothing has been signed,” Vasilevich told local media.
“We will look at how the situation is evolving and how Israel will behave on its relations with Kosovo,” she added.
Serbia will not relocate the embassy to Jerusalem if Israel recognizes Kosovo, Israeli media reported on Wednesday, citing a source close to Serbian President Alexander Vučič.
Doubts that Serbia would relocate the embassy began to appear immediately after a video appeared on the Internet showing the surprised Vučič at the moment Trump announced his commitment to relocate the embassy.
The Serbian president later explained that he was surprised that the deadline for relocating the embassy, July 2021, had been met.
The move by Serbia, an EU candidate country, has raised concerns in Brussels, which continues to support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Jerusalem as the capital of both Israel and the future Palestinian state.
Belgrade effectively lost control of Kosovo, a predominantly Albanian population, in 1999 following NATO military intervention, but in 2008 Pristina unilaterally declared independence from Serbia.
Kosovo’s independence has already been recognized by more than 110 countries, including most EU Member States, but Serbia still considers the former province to be part of its territory. This position is also supported by Belgrade’s ally Russia.
Initially, news of Serbia’s decision on the embassy issue was condemned by the Palestinian Authority.
“Palestine has fallen victim to President Trump’s election ambitions, and his team will take whatever steps, no matter how devastating it may be for peace, to achieve his re-election,” Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, said on Twitter.
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