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Debates Over a U.S. Embassy in Israel; Supreme Allows Trump`s Travel Ban; Trump Shrinks Two National Monuments in Utah
Aired December 05, 2017 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: This is CNN 10 and we are thankful you`re taking 10 minutes to watch. I`m Carl Azuz at the CNN Center.
The Trump administration is considering a declaration that`s significant around the world, whether to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
And if the U.S. government does that, it could later move the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, to the city of Jerusalem.
Here`s why that significant. In 1980, Israel passed a law declaring Jerusalem to be its capital. It had seen the city as that for decades.
But the United Nations said that declaration was against international law because it saw Jerusalem as an international city. Its population of
around 850,000 people isn`t particularly large as cities go. But Jerusalem`s importance to the world`s three major Abrahamic religions --
Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- is tremendous.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At one level, it`s a city like any other. People sell, people buy, normal life. But Jerusalem`s old city
is special. And this is the best vantage point, here on the Mount of Olives.
The Doom of the Rock, a key holy site for Muslims. Behind it, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built on the site where many Christians believe
Christ was crucified.
And out of sight from this vantage point, the Western Wall, holy to Jews supporting the mount where the temple once stood. It`s not Jerusalem`s
significance, that`s in dispute. It`s a status.
After nearly 20 years divided by barbed wire, Israel forces took control of the whole city, east and west. In 1967, the international community did
not recognize what Israel called the unification of Jerusalem, embassies stayed in Tel Aviv. And East Jerusalem was accepted by the international
community as the capital of a future Palestinian state in a negotiated settlement between Israelis and Palestinians.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: The United States has always had its embassy in Tel Aviv, a city about 30 miles northwest of Jerusalem. In 1995, the U.S. Congress passed a
law requiring America to move its embassy to Jerusalem.
International supporters of that who include the Israel government say that the U.S. should recognize Jerusalem as Israel`s capital and have its
embassy there to show it. International opponents who include Palestinians in the region say if the U.S. moves its embassy to the Jerusalem, it will
be a major setback to hopes for peace between Palestinians and Israelis.
Despite the U.S. law passed in 1995, former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama had used something called a presidential waiver to
avoid moving the American embassy. They`ve said it`s necessary to keep the American embassy in Tel Aviv to protect U.S. national security.
If President Donald Trump decides to move the embassy to Jerusalem, it`s not likely to happen immediately. He`s expected to keep the embassy in Tel
Aviv for another six months and possibly move it after that.
Stateside, the Trump administration had a Supreme Court ruling in its favor yesterday. Lower courts had partially blocked the government`s latest
travel restrictions on people entering the U.S. from these eight other countries. But the Supreme Court put those blocks on hold, ruling
yesterday that the entire ban could take effect.
This wasn`t a final decision on the legality of the Trump administration`s travel ban. The ruling means it can go fully into effect for the time
being while the legal process continues to play out in lower courts. Two of them are hearing arguments on the ban`s legality this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:
In what U.S. state would you find the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase- Escalante national monuments?
Arizona, South Dakota, Idaho, or Utah?
Both of these national monuments are in the Beehive State of Utah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: And both are being reduced in sides by the Trump administration.
On a recommendation from the U.S. interior secretary, President Trump announced yesterday that Bears Ears national monument would be shrunk from
1.35 million acres to about 220,000 acres, and that Grand Staircase- Escalante from 1.9 million acres to just over 1 million.
The administration says the federal government would still control the land and that it would still have environmental protections. But that what the
decision does is open up more of it for ranchers to use as grazing land for their cattle and people to use for recreational vehicles. Environmental
groups are planning to sue.
The decision would make President Trump the first U.S. leader to notably shrink a national monument. And critics say the president doesn`t have the
power to do that. The Trump administration says it`s confident it`s doing the right thing and that the decision by previous administrations to expand
the monuments in the first place put the land under the control of a small group in Washington instead of the people of Utah.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me show the epicenter of what is the biggest environmental fight of the day. Here they are.
See those two buttes, those are the Bears Ears. But they are just a tiny piece of this huge fight because Bears Ears national monument is 1.35
million acres.
That is over 200,000 square miles of wild western vestige, holding a potentially fortune in oil, gas and uranium underneath tens of thousands of
Native American ruins.
For folks like Mark Maryboy, these sites are worth more than any mineral. To the Navajo and Hopi, Zuni, and Utes, these canyons hold the spirits of
loved ones.
MARK MARYBOY, NAVAJO INDIAN: They live among us just like and I were communicating.
WEIR: These are neighbors living here.
MARK MARYBOY: Yes.
WEIR: The person who carved this art 1,200 years ago signed all their work with a wolf paw. But equally striking are the modern bullet holes, just
one sign of the tension that goes back to the first Mormon wagon trains.
MARK MARYBOY: They didn`t want to work with us. In fact, one of the (INAUDIBLE) says, you guys lost the war. You have no business talking
about land planning process.
WEIR: For generations, natives sought protection for this land, but it wasn`t until the five tribes put aside their differences, rallied the
support of rich outdoorsmen like Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, and lobby the feds that they got their wish.
Weeks before leaving office, Barack Obama declared Bears Ears off-limits to any new drilling or mining. And while some cheered the prospect of a new
tourist economy, others saw it as pure tyranny.
PHIL LYMAN, TRUMP SUPPORTER: It`s kind of like a sucker punch.
WIER: OK.
LYMAN: It didn`t feel right. And it hasn`t felt right for a year.
WEIR: Phil Lyman is among the Trump supporters who spent the weekend cheering the president`s decision to shrink Bears Ears by more than 80
percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monument by nearly half.
They point out that the biggest poorest county in Utah already has four other parks and monuments. They don`t want elites using their backyard as
a playground. They just want to control their own destiny.
LYMAN: By designating a monument, what you`re doing is you`re using a tool that will bring hordes of people to a place that is very sensitive. There
is nothing that we want to unprotect. There`s 13 layers of protection on artifacts and species and wildlife and vegetation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are loopholes in those rules that you can drive an oil rig through.
WEIR: Josh Euwey (ph) came from Nebraska to climb rocks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Painted (INAUDIBLE), that`s the rim of a bull.
WEIR: And feel so hard for the landscapes in history, he formed an advocacy group and is building a visitor center with whatever donations you
can raise online.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If this place was anywhere else but southern Utah, I don`t care if it was Mongolia, or Zimbabwe, it would have been protected as
a national park a long time ago. But because of the politics of Utah --
WEIR: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- this place is still a debate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Here on earth, pizza nights are crowd pleaser. It turns it`s the same thing in space. Not too long ago, an Italian space agency astronaut
mentioned that he was missing his beloved pizza. So, on a recent resupply mission, NASA sent some along.
It might not have looked as good as what they serve in Naples, New York or Chicago, and it costs an estimated $40,000 per pound to get supplies to the
station. But Paolo Nespoli has been there for months, and everyone with him probably thought, now NASA good slice of pie.
Of course, it took days to deliver. It was hardly oven-fresh and we doubt the driver got a tip. But if you`re hungry for something that`s truly out
of this world, well, that`s a meal for which you just got a make space.
I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10.
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