UN General Assembly rejects Trump's Israel move
Aresounding majority of United Nations member states has defied unprecedented threats by the US to declare President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital “null and void”. The non-binding resolution was approved at a UN General Assembly emergency meeting on Thursday with 128 votes in favour and nine against, while 35 countries abstained.
It passed despite intimidation by President Trump, who had threatened on Wednesday to eliminate financial aid to member states who would vote against his decision, while Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, had warned that she would be “taking names” of those countries.
Shortly after the vote, Palestinian leaders called the vote a victory for Palestine and thanked the UN member states that rejected President Trump’s unilateral move “despite all the pressure exerted on them”. “This decision reaffirms once again that the just Palestinian cause enjoys the support of international community, and no decisions made by any side could change the reality, that Jerusalem is an occupied territory under international law,” Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement.
Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian chief negotiator, condemned Washington’s decision but said the UN vote showed respect for the rule of law. “It’s a day of shame to those who stood shoulder to shoulder with the occupation and settlements against international law,” he said. “But we appreciate very much that the majority of the international community decided, in spite of the threats and intimidation of the US, to stand tall with wisdom, far-sightedness, international law and the rule of law - and not the rule of the jungle.”