Palestinian diplomats push for UN resolution rejecting Trump’s al-Quds move

Rasa - Palestinian officials are reportedly pushing for a UN Security Council resolution that rejects US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s “capital.”

News ID: 435324

Date: 14 December 2017 - 22:47

RNA - The measure, which would strongly condemn Washington’s decision and demand its reversal, would almost certainly face a US veto, diplomats said Wednesday.

According to senior council diplomats, Egypt is expected to circulate the draft resolution to council members, possibly as early as this week.

Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said late Tuesday that he was working on a draft text that would “reaffirm the positions of the Security Council and ask the Americans to rescind.”

On December 6, Trump sparked international outrage as he declared that Washington was recognizing Jerusalem al-Quds as the “capital” of Israel and that he had instructed his administration to begin the process of moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the ancient city.

Trump’s move upended decades of American diplomacy, causing an overwhelming global diplomatic backlash and sparking protests by Palestinians and their clashes with Israeli forces.

Last week, the US found itself isolated at the Security Council when all 14 other members including allies Britain, France and Italy condemned Trump’s decision.

However, other diplomats said that the proposed draft resolution would force the US to resort to its veto power, saying the wording would not be so strong.

Jerusalem al-Quds remains at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Palestinians hoping that the eastern part of the city would eventually serve as the capital of a future independent Palestinian state.

Several UN resolutions call on Israel to withdraw from territory seized during the 1967 war and have reaffirmed the need to end the occupation of that land.

The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) issued a communiqué at the end of an emergency summit in Turkey on Wednesday, declaring that it would recognize "East Jerusalem [al-Quds] as the capital of the State of Palestine and invite all countries to recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem [a-Quds] as its occupied capital.”

Netanyahu ‘not impressed’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday he was “not impressed” by the Muslim leaders’ statements, claiming that many countries would follow Trump’s lead and recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s “capital.”

“The Palestinians would do better by recognizing reality and acting in favor of peace and not extremism,” Netanyahu said.

Renouncing Trump’s move as “null and void legally,” the OIC members said the decision was tantamount to “an attack on the historical, legal, natural and national rights of the Palestinian people, a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts, an impetus to extremism and terrorism, and a threat to international peace and security.”

As the second-largest inter-governmental body after the United Nations, the OIC was established during a summit in Rabat, Morocco, in 1969, following an arson attack on the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem al-Quds.

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