The majority of the world’s countries have shown that they have the courage to do the right thing when it comes to the emotive issue of the status of Jerusalem.
The results of Thursday’s vote at the United Nations on a resolution calling on the United States to drop its recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital should be seen as a stinging rebuke of US President Donald Trump’s Middle East policy.
The non-binding measure passed at a UN General Assembly emergency meeting with 128 votes in favour and nine against, while 35 countries abstained.
The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest issues in the peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in a 1967 war and Palestinians want it as the capital of a future state they seek.
The international community does not recognise Israeli sovereignty over the full city of Jerusalem, which is home to religious sites and has particular significance for Muslims, Christians and Jews.
The Palestinians were furious over President Trump’s recent move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his decision to shift the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city. The decision has resulted in deadly protests in the region.
Thursday’s vote is a victory for Palestinians.
“This decision reaffirms once again that the just Palestinian cause enjoys the support of international community, and no decisions made by any side could change the reality, that Jerusalem is an occupied territory under international law,” Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement.
Qatar also has welcomed the UN resolution asking the US to withdraw its decision on Jerusalem. HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani tweeted: “The majority vote of international community in favour of UN resolution on Al Quds reaffirms the just cause and right of Palestinians to establish their own independent state with Jerusalem as its capital”
Mevlut Cavusoglu, Foreign Minister of Turkey, a co-sponsor of the resolution, said on Twitter that “dignity and sovereignty are not for sale”.
The resolution, co-sponsored by Turkey and Yemen, called Trump’s recognition “null and void” and reaffirmed 10 security council resolutions on Jerusalem, dating back to 1967, including requirements that the city’s final status must be decided in direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
It also “demands that all states comply with security council resolutions regarding the holy city of Jerusalem, and not to recognise any actions or measures contrary to those resolutions”.
That the resolution passed in the face of unprecedented threat and intimidation by the Trump administration, is a message to the latter that the global community will not be bullied by the whims of a superpower.
Using foreign aid to bully other countries or to force them to toe one’s line is deplorable.
If, as President Trump has threatened, the US cuts financial aid to member states that have voted against its decision, it will go to show that Uncle Sam’s generosity is not based on altruism but on the principle of quid pro quo.
If it follows through with that threat, the US will further isolate itself and lose what little respect it still commands among its friends in the world.
There is only one course left for the Trump administration to salvage its respect in the eyes of the Muslims around the world, who have been seething at its recent decision on Jerusalem. Rescind it.
Thursday’s vote is a victory for Palestinians
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