Muslim states say US not welcome in peace talks
Leaders of Islamic world say Trump’s embassy move to Jerusalem rules US out as a Middle East mediator
Dozens of Muslim countries said the US could no longer play a part in the Israelipalestinian peace process in a rebuke to Donald Trump. The 57 member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation agreed the move at a summit in Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan denounced the US.
DOZENS of Muslim countries said the US could no longer play a part in the Israeli-palestinian peace process, as leaders signed a rare joint declaration on Wednesday.
In a rebuke for Donald Trump, the 57 member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a pan-islamic global body, agreed the move at an emergency summit in Turkey, where Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the president of Turkey, denounced the US and Israel in fiery terms. In the summit’s final communiqué, the Muslim states said they considered Mr Trump’s decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem to be an indication of the “US administration’s withdrawal from its role as sponsor of peace”.
They called for the world to symbolically recognise east Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine in response to Mr Trump’s decision to recognise the city as Israel’s capital.
But amid the public show of unity between the Islamic nations, cracks were also visible between jostling Middle Eastern states.
Mr Erdoğan had been eager to present himself as a global Islamic leader and tried to put the issue of Jerusalem at the forefront of Muslim consciousness, while US allies including Saudi Arabia and Egypt took a more muted approach, sending ministers to the Istanbul conference instead of their leaders.
‘Some Arab countries have shown very weak responses. It seems some countries are very timid of the United States’
Other Muslim heads of state had dropped everything for the summit.
Even before the conference opened, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, the Turkish foreign minister, criticised Arab states for their low-level response to Mr Trump’s decision. “Some Arab countries have shown very weak responses,” he said. “It seems some countries are very timid of the United States.”
Mr Erdoğan showed no such timidity as he accused Mr Trump of having a “Zionist mentality” and said there can be “no question” of the US continuing as a mediator in the Israeli-palestinian conflict. He called Israel a “terrorist state” which “kills children”.
Despite his angry words, Mr Erdoğan has not followed through on a threat to cut off diplomatic relations – restored only last year – with Israel in response to Mr Trump’s move.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, said: “The United States has chosen to lose its qualification as a mediator… We will no longer accept that it has a role in the political process from now.”
He also said the Palestinians would go to the UN Security Council to seek full membership of the UN as a fullyfledged country. Mr Abbas gave no details but if he succeeds in reaching the Security Council it could force the US into an embarrassing veto to prevent the Palestinians from winning the vote.
The White House has said it remains committed to moving ahead with a proposed peace plan early next year, despite the backlash from the Palestinians and other Middle Eastern States.
Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-inlaw and point man on peace talks, reportedly believes that Palestinian anger will eventually die down and they will be forced to return to a Usbrokered peace process.
A White House official said: “The president remains as committed to peace as ever. This rhetoric, which has prevented peace for years, is not surprising as we anticipated reactions like this. We will remain hard at work putting together our plan, which will benefit the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.”
Analysts said the OIC declaration was unlikely to have much practical impact and member states would follow their own course depending on their own national interests.