Saudi Arabia on Thursday slammed US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, calling the move “unjustified and irresponsible”.
Trump
ended seven decades of US ambiguity on the status of the disputed city
on Wednesday, prompting an almost universal diplomatic backlash and
fears of new bloodshed in the Middle East.
He also kicked off the process of moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
“The
kingdom expresses great regret over the US president's decision to
recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” said a Saudi royal court
statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
The
decision goes against the “historical and permanent rights of the
Palestinian people”, the royal court said, calling on Trump to
reconsider his decision.
“The kingdom has already warned of the serious consequences of such an unjustified and irresponsible move,” the statement said.
“The
US move represents a significant decline in efforts to push a peace
process and is a violation of the historically neutral American position
on Jerusalem.”
Saudi King Salman on Tuesday had warned
Trump that moving the US embassy for Israel to Jerusalem was a
“dangerous step” that could rile Muslims worldwide.
Trump's
announcement appears to have cast a pall over relations between Saudi
Arabia and the US, which have warmed in the months after his election,
with the president choosing the Gulf kingdom for his first overseas visit in May.
While
the two countries have long been allies, Riyadh viewed Trump's
predecessor Barack Obama as overly friendly with its arch-nemesis Iran.
Israel and Saudi Arabia have no official diplomatic relations.
Global reactions
Donald Trump’s decision on Wednesday drew sharp criticism from global leaders, with the significant exception of Israel.
Palestinian
president Mahmud Abbas responded by saying the US could no longer play
the role of peace broker after Trump’s decision.
“These
deplorable and unacceptable measures deliberately undermine all peace
efforts,” Abbas had said in a speech following Trump's announcement.
Pakistan
also joined the international community in expressing its strong
opposition. “It is deeply regrettable that pleas from states across the
globe not to alter the legal and historical status of Al Quds Al Sharif
have been ignored, more out of choice than necessity,” read a statement
issued by the Prime Minister Office on Wednesday.
The United Arab Emirates denounced the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Al Arabiya reported on Thursday, citing a foreign ministry statement.
“The
ministry expressed deep concern over the repercussions of this decision
on the region's stability as it inflames the emotions of the Arab and
Muslim people due to the status of Jerusalem in the conscience of Arabs
and Muslims,” said the statement.
The Afghan government, in a statement from Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah's office,
expressed its deep concern about the status of Jerusalem, saying the
decision was "hurtful to the emotions of all Muslims in the world" and
would endanger the peace process in the Middle East.
Qatar's
emir also warned US President Donald Trump that his decision to
recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital would have “serious
repercussions”, according to a statement from Doha's foreign ministry on
Thursday.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani “warned of the
serious repercussions of this step, which would further complicate the
situation in the Middle East and negatively affect the security and
stability in the region,” read a statement from the ministry, quoting
the emir in a phone call with Trump.
Jordan condemned
Trump’s move as amounting to a violation of international law and the UN
charter while Turkey slammed Trump’s Jerusalem announcement as
irresponsible and illegal.
Iraq's government also decried
the Trump administration's move as "unjust", with Prime Minister Haider
al-Abadi warning of "dangerous consequences" for regional stability and
the world.
He said the US should "retreat from that
decision in order to stop a dangerous escalation that leads to extremism
and creates an atmosphere which helps terrorism."
Eight
countries — including Britain, France and Italy — pressed for an
emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in response to the move,
which was set for Friday.
Prime Minister Theresa May said
the British government disagreed with Trump’s decision, saying it was
“unhelpful” for peace efforts.
Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, however, hailed Trump’s recognition as “historic”
and a “courageous and just decision”.
Netanyahu had also
pledged no change to the status quo at Jerusalem’s highly sensitive holy
sites in the city, sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims.
