UN council mulls call for US Jerusalem decision to be withdrawn
A document drafted by Egypt was circulated to the 15-member council does not mention the US or President Donald Trump directly, but affirms any move to alter the character, status or demographic composition of Jerusalem be withdrawn.
Worshippers before Friday prayers on the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City, as Palestinians call for a "Day of Rage" in response to President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital on December 15, 2017.
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a draft resolution that would insist any decisions on the status of Jerusalem have no legal effect and must be rescinded after US President Donald Trump recognised the city as Israel’s capital.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, does not specifically mention the United States or Trump. Diplomats say it has broad support but will likely be vetoed by Washington.
The council could vote early next week, diplomats said. A resolution needs nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the US, France, Britain, Russia or China to pass.
Trump's Jerusalem decision
Trump abruptly reversed decades of US policy this month when he recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, generating outrage from Palestinians. Trump also plans to move the US embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
Trump's decision triggered widespread unrest – from the occupied territories of Palestine where several have died in clashes with Israeli forces to mass protests in Muslim countries. Emergency UN and OIC sessions were also called to discuss the crisis which has dampened all hopes for a peace process between Israel and Palestine.
After the US decision, Arab foreign ministers agreed to seek a UN Security Council resolution. While the draft is unlikely to be adopted, it would further isolate Trump over the Jerusalem issue.
The US mission to the UNs did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the draft. US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has praised Trump’s decision as “the just and right thing to do.”
Altering the status of Jerusalem
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status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council.”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 recognize any actions or measures contrary to those resolutions.”
A UN Security Council resolution adopted in December last year “underlines that it will not recognise any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations.”
That resolution was approved with 14 votes in favour and an abstention by former US President Barack Obama’s administration.
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