UN Same old Assembly rejects Trump’s Jerusalem switch

A convincing majority of United International locations member states has defied unheard of threats by the US to approve a draft resolution rejecting President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The non-binding measure handed at a UN Same old Assembly emergency meeting on Thursday with 128 votes in favour and nine in opposition to, while 35 international locations abstained.

It handed no topic intimidation by Trump, who had threatened on Wednesday to connect away with monetary abet to UN contributors who would vote in opposition to his decision.

« They win thousands of thousands of 1000’s of greenbacks and even billions of greenbacks, after which they vote in opposition to us. Smartly, we’re looking out at those votes. Allow them to vote in opposition to us. We will place loads. We don’t care, » Trump told reporters on the White Dwelling.

His comments got right here as Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, warned that she would be « taking names » of states that vote in opposition to Washington’s Jerusalem switch.

The session on Thursday on the 193-member body used to be held on the ask of Arab and Muslim international locations after the US vetoed the identical measure within the Security Council on Monday.

The US used to be outnumbered 14 to 1 in that vote.

While the Security Council’s 5 eternal contributors – the US, Britain, France, China and Russia – had veto vitality on Monday’s vote, there are no longer any vetoes on the Same old Assembly.

Similar to the Egyptian-drafted text that used to be blocked by Washington on Monday, the draft resolution licensed on Thursday did no longer mention the US by title however expressed « deep remorse at fresh choices » referring to Jerusalem’s situation.

Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, called the outcomes of the Same old Assembly vote a « colossal humiliation for the US ».

Bishara acknowledged that most UN member states that voted in favour of the draft resolution did no longer essentially attain in an effort to attend the Palestinians however to boost « global legality ».

« They voted for what they saw as a violation of world laws, » he acknowledged.

« The resolution begins by naming loads of UN Security Council resolutions, where the US both voted for or abstained, announcing that Israel can’t annex East Jerusalem; that Israel can’t export its comprise population to East Jerusalem; that Israel can’t continue with the settlement building in East Jerusalem and loads others, » added Bishara.

« All in all, 128 international locations voted for global laws. »

Embassy switch

As well to recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Trump announced on December 6 that the US would switch its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

No country currently has its embassy within the city, which is dwelling to holy religious websites and has particular significance for Muslims, Christians and Jews.

The US decision precipitated a series of protests within the occupied Palestinian territories, as successfully as most important global cities – from Jakarta, thru Istanbul, to Rabat.

Sooner than Thursday’s vote, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called the UN a « condo of lies ».

« The deliver of Israel rejects outright this vote, even before it passes, » he acknowledged at an opening ceremony of a hospital in southern Israel.

« The angle to Israel of many international locations on the planet, within the overall continents, is altering outside of the UN partitions, and would possibly perchance likely likely fair at final filter into the UN as successfully – the condo of lies, » he acknowledged.

The placement of Jerusalem has prolonged remained a steady topic and one of the most core points within the Israeli-Palestine warfare.

After occupying the city’s jap piece within the 1967 Battle, Israel annexed the territory. In 1980, it proclaimed it as its « eternal, undivided capital. »

The Palestinian management within the West Financial institution, nonetheless, look East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian deliver.

They’ve warned that any replace to the situation quo would indicate the tip of the peace direction of premised on a two-deliver resolution.

Thursday’s vote used to be harking attend to a session in 2012, when an overwhelming majority backed Palestine’s upgrade within the UN to non-member deliver situation.

Some 138 international locations voted in enhance of the upgrade, while nine – along with the US, Israel, Canada and loads of different South Pacific international locations – voted in opposition to.