General Assembly’s rejection a good sign

KUALA LUMPUR: The overwhelming rejection of United States President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital by the United Nations General Assembly last Thursday was a clear affirmation of the world’s commitment to international law, said social activist Dr Chandra Muzaffar.

The International Movement for a Just World (Just) president noted that Jerusalem was placed under the UN law in 1947, when Palestine was unfairly partitioned.

He maintains that seizing or annexing any part of that city and then proclaiming it as the capital of one of the disputants is illegal.

“Surely the US, which sees itself as the world’s ‘greatest democracy’, understands this. So, should Israel be seen as West Asia’s ‘only democracy’?” he said in a statement.

The emergency session saw 128 countries voting in favour of the UN’s call for the US to withdraw its decision, declaring it “null and void”.

Chandra said it was hoped that the vote would compel Washington DC to rescind its decision on Jerusalem.

But he cautioned that given Trump’s track record on matters such as the Climate Change Accord and Unesco, it was very unlikely. Trump had previously announced that the US would quit the Paris climate accord and withdraw from Unesco, the UN agency which focuses on education, science and culture.

“The most we can expect him to do is delay the proposed transfer of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” he said.

Nonetheless, Chandra said the Jerusalem vote was a victory of sorts for global justice. He noted that if the council was not able to emerge as the principled voice of global justice on a much more extensive scale, it was partly because of various impediments — the most formidable of which is the US-Israel link. Bernama