Israel calls on Japan to pressure PA to accept Trump's decision

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has called on Japan to pressure the Palestinian Authority to accept the Trump decision on Jerusalem, Israel’s Channel 7 reported yesterday.

Rivlin yesterday welcomed the Japanese Foreign Minister, Tarō Kōno, on his first-ever official visit to Israel, praising the importance of building a strong relationship between the two countries.

“I know the good relationship between your people, and the influence you have with the Palestinians,” Rivilin said during his meeting with Kōno which was held at his residence in Jerusalem.

“They have to understand that we are here, that the Jewish people have returned to our homeland,” he added, stressing that “there is no other homeland for the Jewish people but the State of Israel, the land of Israel.”

“For us, Tokyo is absolutely the only capital of Japan, and Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel,” the Israeli president pointed out.

During the meeting, the two officials also agreed on strengthening trade and investment relations between their two countries.

On 6 December, the US President Donald Trump announced his decision to formally recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and that the American embassy in Tel Aviv will be relocated to the city. The decision was strongly condemned by 128 member countries in the UN.  It also sparked angry demonstrations across the occupied Palestinian territories and in several Muslim countries.