Washington: President Trump on Wednesday formally recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing nearly seven decades of American foreign policy and setting in motion a plan to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the fiercely contested Holy City.

"It is time to officially recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel," said Trump, speaking from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, saying that past approaches to the conflict, like delaying that recognition, had not moved the peace process forward. "This is a long overdue step to advance the peace process and to work towards a lasting agreement," he added.

Trump's remarks will be the most closely scrutinised of his presidency on West Asia, where he has vowed to broker the "ultimate deal" between Israelis and Palestinians but has yet to find a breakthrough to end the conflict.

The President's recognition of Jerusalem isolates the US on one of the world's most sensitive diplomatic issues. It has drawn a storm of criticism from Arab and European leaders, which swelled on Tuesday night after the White House confirmed Trump's plans.

Pope Francis and the Chinese foreign ministry joined the chorus of voices warning that the move could unleash a wave of violence across the region.

At a meeting in Brussels, secretary of state Rex W. Tillerson was sternly reproached by European allies.

Standing next to Tillerson, the EU's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, made clear that Europe saw the President's announcement as a threat to peace in West Asia.

"We believe that any action that would undermine these efforts must absolutely be avoided," she said. "A way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as a future capital of both states."

Just hours before Trump was expected to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel, Tillerson said that peace in West Asia was still possible.

Tillerson, during a news conference at Nato headquarters in the heart of Europe, said that he did not want to pre-empt the President's official announcement, but expressed reassurances about the expected consequences of the decision.

"The President's very committed to the West Asian peace process," Tillerson said.

Tillerson has been largely shut out of the usual back-and-forth between Israelis and Palestinians that many secretaries of state spent much of their tenures conducting. Instead, Trump entrusted that task to his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.

At least one former Obama administration official also weighed in with sharp criticism. John O. Brennan, the former director of the CIA, said in a statement that Trump's action was "reckless" and would "damage US interests in West Asia for years to come and will make the region more volatile."

Administration officials said they expected the blowback from the Palestinians and others, but they asserted that the move would accelerate, not hinder, the peace process.

Trump promised to move the embassy during the 2016 presidential campaign, a position that appealed to evangelical voters and pro-Israel American Jews. By delivering on that promise, Trump's aides said, he was enhancing his credibility as a peacemaker.

The announcement, officials said, was recognition of current and historic reality. West Jerusalem is the seat of Israel's government, and recognising it as such would remove ambiguity from the American position, they said.

The process of moving the embassy to Jerusalem will take several years, they noted.

NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE