Diplomatic Vandalism: US Opens Embassy in Al-Quds Despite Global Condemnation

Rasa - In a potentially explosive decision and against International Law, the Trump White House broke with years of precedent to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He even went further and relocated the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the Holy City on Monday, May 14, 2018.

News ID: 437694

Date: 14 May 2018 - 23:49

RNA - Such a dangerous step has inflamed the passions of Muslims around the world due to the great status of Al-Quds and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Despite that, President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, was in Al-Quds to open the US embassy on Monday, a controversial move that is also guaranteed to stir further violence in the occupied Palestinian lands, who deem the Holy City as the future capital of Palestinian state.

Trump didn’t attend the opening ceremony, but his daughter was there with “great joy”. “We look forward to celebrating Israel’s 70th anniversary and the bright future ahead,” Ivanka said, as she attended the opening ceremony, exactly seven decades after the Tel Aviv regime forced out Palestinians from their land and declared existence – with a helping hand from the US and Britain – a day also known as Nakba.

However, most world countries declined to attend the event. Only 32 of the 86 foreign ambassadors in Israel accepted an invitation to attend the dinner. Interestingly, only four of those were European countries, namely Hungary, the Czech Republic, Austria and Romania. This is for good reason:

1- The United Nations voted overwhelmingly to condemn Trump's decision to recognize Al-Quds as the capital of Israel despite threats from the US to pull funding from the world body. The vote came after US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley issued a direct threat, saying that the US will think twice about funding the world body if it voted to condemn Trump's decision.

2- Menaing, Washington will use every trick in the book to try and pressure other countries to move their embassies to the Holy City. Since the first UN resolution that condemned Trump’s decision is not binding, the world body should come up with another resolution that includes proper mechanisms and legal frameworks to protect its member states against Washington’s future retaliatory measures. After all, US Ambassador Nikki Haley says “the United States will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in this assembly."

3- It is true that Arab foreign ministers have called Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital a “dangerous violation of International Law” that has no legal impact and is “void”. But it is similarly true that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Palestinians should either accept peace proposals or "shut up." He has even said Israelis are entitled to their own land! Does this translate into the fact that Riyadh has already recognized the usurper regime and Palestinians are better off not counting on Saudi Arabia for any support?

4- Trump’s endorsement of Israel’s claim to all of Al-Quds as its capital goes against long-standing US policy that the city’s status must be decided in negotiations with the Palestinians, who want Al-Quds as the capital of their future state. Palestinians must be out of their minds to assume that there is still chance for peace with Israel through negotiations.

5- Millions of people took to the streets worldwide to condemn Washington’s diplomatic vandalism for the relocation of its embassy. The rallies culminated on the 70th anniversary of the Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe), which marks the creation of Israel on Palestinians occupied lands on May 15, 1948. Rallies took place in Europe where Washington’s major European allies also skipped the event and only sent low-level representatives. If this is not international isolation for Washington, we don’t know what is.

Most of all, Trump’s decision to go ahead with a campaign promise to recognize Al-Quds as Israel’s capital and to move the US embassy there is an act of diplomatic vandalism. It is the more curious for the likelihood that no one will benefit from it, not even Trump himself. The man who also withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal signed with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, has in the same way united almost everyone against him, including his closest NATO allies. For someone who prides himself on being the consummate deal maker it is odd that he should surrender this card, much less diminish America in the eyes of the world community.

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