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UN council mulls call for US Jerusalem decision to be withdrawn

December 17, 2017 at 11:50 am

Participants are seen during a United Nations Security Council meeting on Myanmar’s oppression on the Rohingya people’ at the UN Headquarters in New York, US on 18 July 2017 [Volkan Furuncu/Anadolu Agency]

The United Nations Security Council is considering a draft resolution that would insist any decisions on the status of Jerusalem have no legal effect and must be rescinded after US President Donald Trump recognised the city as Israel’s capital.

The one-page Egyptian-drafted text, which was circulated to the 15-member council on Saturday and seen by Reuters, does not specifically mention the United States or Trump. Diplomats say it has broad support but will likely be vetoed by Washington.

Diplomats said the council could vote as early as Monday or Tuesday. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to be adopted.

Trump abruptly reversed decades of US policy this month, generating outrage from Palestinians and defying warnings of Middle East violence. Trump also plans to move the US embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

The draft UN resolution “affirms that any decisions and actions which purport to have altered, the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council.”

[It] calls upon all States to refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in the Holy City of Jerusalem, pursuant to resolution 478 (1980) of the Security Council.

Israel considers the city its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there. Palestinians want the capital of an independent Palestinian state to be in the city’s eastern sector, which Israel captured in a 1967 war and annexed in a move never recognised internationally.

The draft council resolution “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.”

Read: Implementation of US decision on Jerusalem will not be easy, says Erdogan

Tension has risen across the Palestinian territories since US President Donald Trump’s decision to officially recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Most countries consider East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after capturing it in a 1967 war, to be occupied territory, and say the status of the city should be left to be decided at future Israeli-Palestinian talks.

While the international community has almost unanimously disagreed with Donald Trump’s announcement, reports suggest that the announcement was done with the pre-agreement of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, with the Saudi Arabia going as far as, allegedly, stating to the Palestinian President to accept a village on the outskirts of Jerusalem as the alternative Palestinian capital.

Read: Malaysian army ‘ready to perform its duty’ towards Palestinians