Jordan’s Foreign Minister says Arab states will push for international recognition of east Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital, after President Donald Trump last month recognised the contested city as Israel’s capital.
Ayman Safadi spoke after hosting five Arab Foreign Ministers and the head of the Arab League on Saturday, to decide on a joint Arab response to Trump.
Safadi says the Arab world would pursue a “global political decision to recognise the Palestinian state... with east Jerusalem as its capital.”
In 2012, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly recognized a state of Palestine in lands Israel captured in 1967, including east Jerusalem, as an observer state, but many Western countries stopped short of bilateral recognition.
Under a broad international consensus, the fate of Jerusalem is to be determined in negotiations.
The committee — created at an emergency meeting of the Arab League in Cairo on December 9, just days after Trump’s declaration — is hoping to reverse the decision and “to assert that it has no legal effect”, Safadi told reporters at the summit.
“We (the Arab League) will confront the decision by seeking a (UN) resolution, an international one, to recognise a Palestinian state on 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital,” he said.
“We have specific requests, the most important of which is the recognition of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital according to the June 4th 1967 borders.”
Based on the discussions, Ministers will make further recommendations to a full meeting of the Arab League, due to be held at the end of this month, Safadi added.
Divide in the
Arab world
The summit was held as a report published by the New York Times on Saturday asserted that while Egypt’s Government was publicly condemning Trump’s Jerusalem move, a state intelligence officer was asking influential TV hosts in the country to persuade their viewers to accept it.
The report was based on audio recordings obtained by the Times, in which Ashraf al-Kholi, the Intelligence officer, can be heard telling the hosts that Egypt, like its “Arab brothers, are denouncing this matter”, but that “after that, this thing will become a reality”.
The report has raised questions about the level of consensus among Arab countries on the issue of Jerusalem, underscoring how complicated the issue of Jerusalem has become in the region, Jamjoom said.
“You have the public condemnation by Arab countries of Trump’s decision, but then on the other hand, especially among ordinary citizens, they say that Arab leaders simply aren’t doing enough to stand in solidarity with their Palestinian brethren at a time when they really need them to rally to the cause,” our correspondent said.
International condemnation
Trump’s Jerusalem decision has prompted widespread condemnation from many leaders throughout the Middle East, as well as from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
On December 21, 128 members of the UNGA voted in favour of a resolution rejecting Trump’s decision. Nine countries — including the United States — voted against the resolution, and 35 abstained.
The status of Jerusalem, home to sites holy to Muslims, Jews and Christians, is one of the core issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After occupying the city’s eastern part in the 1967 War, Israel annexed the territory and proclaimed it as its “eternal, undivided capital.”
Palestinians, however, see East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.