Jordan calls for protests over Trump’s Jerusalem decision

Arabs must “take to streets” in protest of the US administration’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s new capital, the Jordanian Minister of State for Prime Ministry Affairs, Mamdouh Al-Abbadi, said yesterday.

Speaking to the Jordanian radio station Hayat, Al-Abbadi warned that “Jordan intends to escalate the decision.”

The minister noted that he is “optimistic” about the global reactions following US President Donald Trump’s decision, stressing that “we [Jordanian people] do not agree with the decision”.

“I call everyone to go out on the streets in protest at the US decision,” he reiterated.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump announced his decision to formally recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s new capital and said that the US embassy in Tel Aviv will be relocated to the city.

Read: An illegitimate capital for a state without legitimacy

Several protests broke out in the Jordanian capital of Amman following the decision.

The spokesman of the Jordanian government, Mohammad Al-Momani, said that the decision violated long-standing UN Security Council resolutions that “stipulated the non-recognition of the Israeli occupation” of the city’s eastern sector and the adjacent West Bank.

On his part, Jordan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ayman Safadi, stressed that move “frustrated” peace efforts, adding that the status of Jerusalem must be “determined in direct negotiations” between the Palestinians and Israelis. “Jordan rejects the decision and all its implications and will continue to work for an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” Safadi said.