The United States stood alone on Friday as one after another
fellow UN Security Council member criticised its decision to recognise
Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
The debate unfolded at a
largely symbolic emergency meeting of the council — no vote on a
resolution was planned, as the US has veto power — two days after
President Donald Trump reversed two decades of US policy on the holy
city.
The meeting was convened by no fewer than eight of
the 14 non-US members of the council. This seemed a vivid show of the
discord triggered by Trump's announcement, which included plans to move
the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Asked
what he expected to come from the UN meeting, one diplomat said:
“Nothing.” Another said the session would show the US “isolation” on the
issue.
The British ambassador to the UN, Matthew
Rycroft, said flat out that Britain disagrees with Trump's move on
Jerusalem and the embassy location. “These decisions are unhelpful for
the prospects for peace in the region,” Rycroft said.
He
urged Trump to now come up with detailed proposals for an
Israel-Palestinian peace accord, a goal which has eluded the US and the
international community for decades.
The status of
Jerusalem is one of the most hotly contested issues in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel seised control of the east of the city in 1967 and later annexed
it in moves never recognised by the international community.
'Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital to advance peace'
The United States ambassador to the United Nations said
President Donald Trump knew his decision to recognise Jerusalem as
Israel's capital would raise “questions and concerns” but took it to
advance peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Nikki
Haley told the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that the US
is more committed to peace “than we've ever been before and we believe
we might be closer to that goal than ever before.”
She said the Trump administration has been working on a new peace plan, but Haley gave no details.
Haley
said that in his reversal of US foreign policy, Trump was simply
recognising reality, since the Israeli government and parliament are
located in Jerusalem.
And she recalled that Trump insists
his decision has no impact on whatever Israelis and Palestinians
ultimately decide on boundaries and borders of the city, which is holy
to Muslims, Christians, and Jews.
“I understand the concerns that members have in calling this session,” Haley said. “Change is hard,“ she added.
She
noted that past Israeli-Palestinian agreements have been signed on the
White House lawn, and if there is a new agreement there is “a good
likelihood” it will be signed there as well “because the United States
has the credibility of both sides.”
Haley urged all
countries “to temper statements and actions in the days ahead,” saying
anyone who used Trump's announcement as a pretext for violence would
show that they were “unfit partners for peace.”
Earlier,
the UN's Mideast envoy called for urgent international efforts to
advance Israeli-Palestinian peace, warning that if the conflict isn't
resolved “it risks being engulfed in the vortex of religious radicalism
throughout the Middle East.”
Nickolay Mladenov told an
emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that there is a risk of
escalating violence following US President Donald Trump's recognition of
Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and “a serious risk” of “a chain of
unilateral actions” that would push the goal of peace further away.
He
pointed to clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces
and some calls for a new intifada, or uprising. Mladenov reiterated UN
Secretary General Antonio Guterres' words that the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict must be resolved through direct negotiations and that “there is
no Plan B to the two-state solution”.
'US Jerusalem move 'not in line' with UN resolutions'
US President Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the
capital of Israel is “not in line” with the UN Security Council
resolutions and is “unhelpful,” five European countries said on Friday.
The
UN envoys from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden also said the
move was “unhelpful in terms of prospects for peace in the region,” in a
joint statement issued after emergency Security Council talks on the
issue.