川普总统将宣布美国承认耶路撒冷为以色列首都

President Donald Trump plans to announce Wednesday that the United States is recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv.

The decision is likely to cause an uproar throughout the Arab world. But the White House says Trump is merely recognizing what it calls a historic and modern reality.

To soften what could be a hard blow, Trump telephoned five Middle East leaders Tuesday to brief them on his decision -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan's King Abdullah, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

A White House statement gave few details of the conversations except to say, “the leaders also discussed potential decisions regarding Jerusalem." It added that Trump reaffirmed his commitment to advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and the importance of supporting those talks.

White House officials said late Tuesday Trump recognizes Jerusalem is not only the historic capital of the Jewish people, it has been the seat of the Israeli government since the founding of modern Israel in 1948.

The officials say the president will order the State Department to start making plans to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv. They say the process will take years to find a site, secure funding, and construct a new building. Until then, Trump will sign the usual waiver postponing the relocation.