Jerusalem (AFP) – There is no plaque on the gate of the US ambassador’s new residence in Jerusalem, no visible stars and stripes, and no official listing as a notable property abroad.
The official residence of the US envoy is rent and temporary, officials said, and was secured after two years of searching for a home in the wake of President Donald Trump’s controversial decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Ambassador Tom Nedis moved into the elegantly renovated villa in the leafy German colony of West Jerusalem sometime last spring. Local real estate agents estimated it was worth about $23 million, and its owner and embassy confirmed it was rented as the official residence of the US envoy.
Emek Refaim Street is the last stop of the US ambassador’s home after more than three years of migrating from the coastal cliffs north of Tel Aviv to stress-ridden Jerusalem. The trip reflects the Trump administration’s divisive legacy and President Joe Biden’s reluctance – who will visit the region next month – to sour relations with Israel over the issue.
Trump upended decades of US policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017, applauding many Israelis and infuriating Palestinians.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state. Most countries maintain embassies in Tel Aviv due to the long-running conflict.
Trump moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv, along with the residence of the US ambassador. Under various presidents, the envoy had previously resided in a sprawling five-bedroom beachfront complex built on an acre (nearly half a hectare) of land, which Israel granted to the United States shortly after independence in 1948.
The former headquarters was a social hub for the relations between the two close allies. It was known for its explosions on the Fourth of July, when thousands of specially invited guests watched sunsets and fireworks over the Mediterranean.
Trump’s decision put an end to all of that. The United States sold the drug for more than $67 million, according to official Israeli records. The State Department declined to reveal key details of the sale, but Israeli business newspaper Globes identified the buyer as one of Trump’s biggest contributors: American casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who died in 2021.
It looks like the cliff complex hasn’t changed much from the outside of the walls in the last day. Two Israeli flags waved from the flagpole in the sea breeze. A spokesman for the Adelsons declined to comment.
The decision to sell the headquarters appears to have been aimed at preventing any future president from backing down on moving the embassy, something Biden has long ruled out.
But it also forced the American diplomats stationed in the area – most of whom continued to work in Tel Aviv – to embark on a difficult search for new excavations.
When Neds arrived last December, the plight of the “homeless ambassador” was the talk of diplomatic circles. There simply weren’t many options in crowded Jerusalem for a compound large and secure enough to serve as the official residence of the US ambassador.
In most countries, the official residence is not only the ambassador’s home, but a place for official ceremonies and social gatherings. A cramped apartment simply won’t do the trick.
Nides initially moved to the Waldorf Astoria in Jerusalem, an adequate Tony address but not adequate living quarters for entertaining. Sometime last spring, he moved into the property in the German Colony, one of Jerusalem’s most desirable neighborhoods.
The United States rents it and notifies Israel that the property will be the official residence of the American envoy, according to the embassy. Other terms of the arrangement have not been announced, but there are no plans to move the ambassador to another location. Officials from the two countries, as well as the owner, declined to comment on the property’s value or monthly rent.
If the intent was to keep the property low, that’s over, too. On June 8, Nedis tweeted a photo from the “New Neighborhood Café in the German Colony.” His residence is surrounded by a long white fence and is full of surveillance cameras. Guards can be seen often, according to local shopkeepers. The gate opens, looky-loos can catch glimpses of the parking area and courtyard.
Ariel Cohen, legal counsel to the owner of Blue Marble Ltd., does not dispute local reports that the company spent NIS 50 million (about $14.5 million) on the historic restoration. Her father, Avi Roymi, grew up in the German colony and founded the company that specializes in historic restorations and owns several other addresses down the street.
Blue Marble purchased the property in 2004. The construction took six years and was completed in 2020, as it became clear that the US ambassador would need a new home.
“We knew that was a possibility,” Cohen said in an interview. She declined to comment on the signing process but described the contract as a “fantastic milestone”. She said the dwelling itself is about 570 square meters (about 6,000 square feet) in size with a second building nearly double its size.
An exhibit on the company’s website says that one of the buildings includes two apartments and a commercial space. The second is a “beautiful private villa”. A portfolio on Blue Marble’s website shows an elegantly restored interior, with modern kitchen and fixtures, and high ceilings.
Local media reported that the property dates back to the 1930s and was built by a wealthy Palestinian family. West Jerusalem was home to a number of upscale Palestinian neighborhoods known for their stone villas before the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel, when most Palestinians on this side of the city fled or were expelled.
The house housed unmarried British police officers during the British Mandate prior to 1948, and has also been used as a fire station, school and flower shop over the years.
It is unclear whether Biden will visit his residence during his brief layover in Israel next month.
His talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders will likely focus on another outcome of Trump’s embassy move – closing the US Consulate in Jerusalem that served the Palestinians.
The Palestinians have called on the Biden administration to honor its pledge to reopen the consulate, which would cement their claim to a part of the city and help repair US-Palestinian relations torn during the Trump years.
Israel is vehemently opposed to any reopening of the consulate for the same reason – another real estate dispute in an area that appears to be doubling with each passing year.