Fight over Jerusalem-crusade? Capital crisis,on U.S. recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital

 

Editorial in the Hindu 

8 December  2017

Cover Image: United States ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley addresses the U.N. Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestine, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, U.S., on Friday.   (Photo Credit: Reuters)

 

Dr James Kottoor (red sweater) with Fr Sunil Rosario in the US 

 James K and Fr. Sunil Rosario(Note: US president calls himself a Christian. By his latest unilateral diktat he is telling the world Jerusalem is to be the capital of Israel. It can be seen only as the worst example of an unchristian act, reminding one of the crusades or the American jargon “kill o commie for Christ”. Well-meaning people both believers and unbelievers look up to Jesus as the Prince of Peace. The worst is that the US president does it during this Holy season when the world has already started  celebration for Christmas which today is a universal feast of peace and good neighbourly behaviour.

                    It is in this context that the editorial below from India’s national daily HINDU assumes exceptional importance. What a pity we are living in times when the so-called Christian world leaders are to be evangelized by non-Christians by  word and deed.

                  All consider Israel as the 51st state of US bent on ruling as the ‘police man’ of the  world through money and military power, which can at best be described as the law of the jungle fit only for the dark ages. Peace loving people and nations around the world have to devise ways and means to make the voice of reason and sound sense to triumph over a US Trump blindly dumping into a dustbin all fruits of democracy and peace process achieved so far. james kottoor, editor ccv.)

 

By recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the U.S. has endangered the peace process

U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite warnings at home and abroad, will worsen the Israel-Palestine conflict. Jerusalem, which houses holy places of all three Abrahamic religions and is claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians, is at the very heart of the dispute.

Israel built its seat of power in West Jerusalem decades ago and occupied the East during the 1967 war, and later annexed it. Palestinians insist that East Jerusalem should be the capital of their future state. Even though there is a Congressional resolution in the U.S. urging Washington to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, previous American Presidents avoided doing so given the legal, ethical and political implications of the issue, besides their commitment to a negotiated two-state settlement.

By breaking with this consensus, Mr. Trump has in effect endorsed the Israeli claims to East Jerusalem. The decision will likely help him bolster his image among the Jewish lobby in Washington as well as American evangelical groups, his social base. Israel is obviously happy. Though Arab countries have voiced protest, they are unlikely to challenge an American decision.

Mr. Trump’s move raises vital questions about U.S. diplomacy in the region besides putting new roadblocks in the peace process. It could be viewed as illegal as the Israeli claim that Jerusalem “complete and united” is its capital has been declared “null and void” by UN Security Council Resolution 478, which also asks member-countries to “withdraw diplomatic missions from the Holy City”. The U.S. is now acting against the spirit of this resolution.

The Jerusalem gambit risks triggering another cycle of protests and repression in the Occupied Territories. In 2000, Ariel Sharon’s visit to the al-Aqsa compound in the Old City sparked the second intifada. Palestinians are expressing similar distress today. The peace process is not going anywhere, while Israel has gradually been tightening its occupation and building new settlements. Hamas has already called for a third intifada. In the longer term, Mr. Trump has just made the two-state solution more complicated.

The Israeli-Palestine conflict can be settled only after an agreement is reached on the status of Jerusalem. The city was not part of Israel in the original 1947 UN plan to partition Palestine. Jerusalem, which was supposed to be ruled by an international trusteeship, was conquered by Israel. This is why the UN has not recognised it as Israel’s capital. With his latest announcement, Mr. Trump has endorsed the occupation. And in doing so, he has undermined the U.S.’s position as a neutral broker in Israeli-Palestinian talks. In short, he has dealt a blow to the peace process.

 

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1 Response

  1. Isaac Gomes says:

     

    The United States found itself isolated at a special United Nations Security Council meeting in its recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a move that set off alarms about the risk of escalating conflict in the Middle East.

    Eight of the 15 members of the UN Security Council, the organization the looks out for peace and security around the world, had called for an urgent meeting on Friday to analyze the decision taken by Washington, Efe news agency reported.

    A sense of how isolated the United States had become was in the air due to the decision announced by President Donald Trump, who since his electoral campaign had expressed an obvious favouritism for Israel’s stance on the matter.

    “The status of Jerusalem must be determined through negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians leading to a final status agreement,” the five European nations said in a statement at the end of the meeting.

    The European Union “has a clear and united position: we believe that the only realistic solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine is based on two States, and with Jerusalem as the capital of both the State of Israel and the State of Palestine,” the statement said, indicating that until that occurs, the EU will not recognize any sovereignty over Jerusalem.

    The European statement was the only collective position issued at the end of the Security Council meeting, which closed without a joint statement or resolution of any kind.

    Meanwhile, the US envoy to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, defended Trump’s announcement and took the occasion to slam the United Nations for what she believes is its “hostility” toward Israel.

    Ms. Haley said that for many years, the United Nations “has outrageously been one of the world’s foremost centers of hostility towards Israel.”

    At the start of the Security Council meeting, the UN special envoy to the Middle East, Nickolay Mladenov, sounded that alarm about the recent US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

    In a videoconference from Jerusalem, Mr. Mladenov warned of the “potential risk of violent escalation” that exists following that decision and asked that all parties choose dialogue and avoid provocations.

    (Source:  THE HINDU : DECEMBER 09, 2017 09:44 IST)

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