Respond to US stance on Jerusalem

IN light of the Dec 6 unilateral declaration by US President Donald J. Trump to recognise Jerusalem (Baitulmaqdis) as the capital of Israel, a concrete response must be considered by all nations that still value existing international laws and human rights principles, especially those pertaining to the struggles of the Palestinian people.

Among the actions which can be considered is to relocate, on a temporary basis, embassies in Washington DC or shutting down their operations for a specific period of time. This proposal is made in line with calls by several Muslim nations to set up embassies in East Jerusalem as part of their efforts to recognise the State of Palestine and as a response towards Trump’s declaration on Jerusalem.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after holding a summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation last week, has called upon all nations to recognise East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian State.

He is also considering setting up a Turkish embassy in East Jerusalem.

Besides opening an embassy in East Jerusalem, all nations can also consider relocating their existing embassies from Washington DC to other places in the United States, or temporarily shut down their operations.

This would certainly send a strong message to the US administration, especially to the US President, that their stance on the Palestinian conflict cannot be accepted or tolerated at all.

Relocating embassies from Washington or shutting down embassies there should continue until the United States changes its unilateral stance on Jerusalem.

DR. MUZAFFAR SYAH MALLOW, Faculty of Syariah & Law Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia