Hopes were running high in Jerusalem that an announcement on the move of the United States embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel's capital was imminent early this week. 

Nir Barkat, the city’s mayor, had already signed a letter thanking President Donald Trump. But the words of Sean Spicer, White House spokesman, cooled the speculation, declaring: “We are at the very beginning stages of even discussing this subject”.

Those rooting for the move consoled themselves that at least the possibility was officially on the table.

But it was all an anticlimax, made clearer later in the week when the Palestinian leadership claimed to have received assurances from Washington that moving the embassy was not on the cards right now.

The only clear conclusion that can be made at this point is that everyone is indeed speaking to Washington, but no-one can say who is actually speaking for President Trump and whether he has even begun to make up his mind on this issue. Or whether his mind will not be changed again.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition colleagues believe the new administration is so pro-Israel that all the Israeli government has to do now is tell Mr Trump its plans and he will sign off on them.

Mr Netanyahu is not as certain, and is aware there are other major players in the region beside the US. His priorities are very clear, and quite different to that of the settlers’ lobby in his cabinet.

The Prime Minister’s wariness is based on his decades of experience of American politics.

He is fully aware that there are many supporters of Israel’s right-wing in the new administration, including Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, David Friedman, President Trump’s attorney and new ambassador to Israel and Boris Epshteyn, who was appointed this week to serve as a special advisor.

But at the same time, the views of senior cabinet members, especially Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary John Mattis are more lukewarm, and there are expected to be some hold-overs from the Obama administration, such as Adam Szubin, a senior Treasury official who was part of the team which drafted the nuclear agreement with Iran.

There is though no question there will be a major policy shift. Barack Obama’s administration tried, rather unsuccessfully, to pressure Mr Netanyahu to make concessions to the Palestinians over the last eight years.

The two men last met in Jerusalem during former President Shimon Peres’s funeral last year, and as Air Force One was about to take-off from Ben Gurion Airport, a senior member of the Obama entourage is said to have phoned the prime minister’s office with the parting shot that if he wanted a similar funeral one day, attended by leaders from around the world, he should make a move on the diplomatic process with the Palestinians.

President Obama’s decision on the last day of his presidency to release $221 million (£175m) of aid money to the Palestinian Authority, which has been held up by Congress, is also an indication of where his heart lay — although Mr Trump has reportedly frozen the money. Another parting shot to Israel was the administration’s decision last month not to veto United Nations Security Council resolution 2334.

By comparison, this week the Trump White House would not even comment on the Israeli decision to authorise more than 3,000 new homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

And according to reports, Mr Trump is set to cut funds to international organisations giving the PA full membership.

Mr Netanyahu knows he will be engaging a much friendlier president when he meets Mr Trump next month in Washington, but is being careful about asking for too much. In their phone call on Sunday, the issues he brought up were Iran, then Syria and only finally the Palestinian issue.

The prime minister’s overall priority is to enlist the Trump administration in a new drive to counter Iran’s influence in the region. Nothing is more urgent for Mr Netanyahu than making sure the new president is on board over Iran.

Moving the embassy to Jerusalem or embarking on a settlement drive, as his cabinet partners are clamouring for, is of much less appeal to Mr Netanyahu. He is interested in maintaining the status quo with the PA, ensuring the security coordination continues, as well as improving the quiet relationship with Sunni Arab regimes who share Israel’s concerns over Iran.

Openly saying that would of course jeopardise his coalition, but in his conversations with President Trump, the priorities will be clear.