UN council weighs measure rejecting US Jerusalem decision
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – The UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution affirming that any change to the status of Jerusalem has no legal effect and must be reversed, in response to the US decision to recognize the city as Israel’s capital.
Egypt circulated the draft text on Saturday, and diplomats said the council could vote on the proposed measure as early as Monday.
Breaking with the international consensus, US President Donald Trump this month announced that he would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv, sparking protests and strong condemnation.
The draft resolution obtained by AFP stresses that Jerusalem is an issue “to be resolved through negotiations’’ and expresses ‘’deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem,’’ without specifically mentioning Trump’s move.
“Any decisions and actions which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded,’’ it said.
Diplomats said they expected the United States to use its veto power to
JAKARTA (AFP) – Tens of thousands of Indonesians protested Sunday against the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the latest show of support for the Palestinians in the country with the world's largest Muslim population.
The rally was organized by the top Islamic authority the Indonesian Ulema Council and supported by the government as well as several other Islamic organizations.
Police said 80,000 protesters gathered at the National Monument, a tower that looms over central Jakarta, waving the Palestine flag and banners reading ''Free Palestine'' as they chanted ''God
LONDON (AFP) – British Prime Minister (PM) Theresa May has hit back at critics of her handling of Brexit, writing in the Sunday Telegraph that she had “proven the doubters wrong’’ after securing an interim deal.
Pressure lifted on the embattled leader after she struck a deal with the European Union over Britain’s divorce terms last Friday, enabling talks to turn to the country’s future trading relationship after months of fraught negotiations.
“We have proven the doubters wrong and are making progress towards a successful exit from the EU,’’ she wrote in the centre-right broadsheet, calling the agreement “a watershed’’ in negotiations.
“Amid all the noise, we are getting on with the job,’’ she added. “We will not be derailed from this fundamental duty to deliver the democratic will of the British people.’’
The prime minister said it was important to work out the exact terms of an implementation period, designed to soften the effects of Brexit after the March 2019 leave date, “as soon as possible... to provide invaluable certainty for employers.’’
She also played down fears of Brexit voters that Britain would end up being bound by EU rules, insisting that the country would regain “control of our
QUETTA, Pakistan (AFP) – At least five people were killed and 15 wounded when two suicide bombers attacked a church in Pakistan during a service Sunday, just over a week before Christmas, police said.
The attack took place at the Methodist Church in the restive southwestern city of Quetta in Balochistan province.
Senior city police official Abdul Razzaq Cheema gave the toll, which was confirmed by Balochistan home minister Sarfraz Bugti.
Bugti said police intercepted and block the measure while most, if not all, of the 14 other council members were expected to back the draft resolution.
US Vice President Mike Pence will visit Jerusalem on Wednesday, wading into the crisis over one of the most controversial issues in the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.
Israel seized control of the eastern part of the city in the 1967 Middle East war and sees the whole of Jerusalem as its undivided capital. The Palestinians view the east as the capital of their future state.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon ‘’strongly condemned’’ the draft, dismissing it as an attempt by the Palestinians “to reinvent history.’’
“No vote or debate will change the clear reality that Jerusalem has and always will be the capital of Israel,’’ Danon said in a statement.
The draft resolution calls on all countries to refrain from opening embassies in Jerusalem, reflecting concerns that other governments could follow the US lead.
It demands that all member-states not recognize any actions that are contrary to UN resolutions on the status of the city.
Several UN resolutions call on Israel to withdraw from territory seized during the 1967 war and have reaf- is greatest!''
''This is my solidarity as a Muslim to my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters in Palestine... the Al-Aqsa mosque, a historical mosque for Muslims, is there (in Jerusalem),'' said Hermawati, from the nearby city of Bogor, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
Dressed mostly in white, the demonstrators urged the US to change its decision.
Indonesia's religious affairs minister and Jakarta's governor were among those at the protest site just a few meters from the US embassy, which was cordoned off behind coils of razor wire. borders, and set our own laws’’.
However, prominent Brexit campaigners in her own cabinet appeared concerned that Britain would be restricted by EU rules during the transition period, which is expected to last for around two years.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told the Sunday Times that Britain risked becoming a “vassal state’’ of Europe if it did not fully leave the jurisdiction of European courts or the customs union, which would prevent it from striking trade deals with other countries.
His comments came shortly after finance minister Philip Hammond said Britain would “effectively replicate the status quo’’ during the transition period, highlighting May’s task in uniting her cabinet ahead of the second phase of negotiations.
She also faces battles with her own MPs, 11 of whom rebelled last week to deliver the government a damaging parliamentary defeat on the bill that will enshrine Brexit into domestic law
A BMG Research poll for The Independent newspaper on Sunday found 51 percent of Britons now favored staying in the EU compared with 41 percent who backed Brexit, the widest margin since the June 2106 vote -- although the poll was carried out before the interim deal was announced. shot one bomber outside but the second attacker managed to reach the church’s main door where he blew himself up.
The minister said about 250 people usually attend the church on Sundays, but attendance had swelled because it was close to Christmas.
Balochistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, is Pakistan’s most restive region – ravaged by Islamist militancy, sectarian violence and a separatist insurgency. firmed the need to end the occupation of that land.
The Palestinians had sought a toughly worded draft resolution that would have directly called on the US administration to scrap its decision.
But some US allies on the council such as Britain, France, Egypt, Japan and Ukraine were reluctant to be too hard-hitting and insisted that the proposed measure should reaffirm the position enshrined in current resolutions,
''Isn't it the government's job to work on the aspiration of the majority of Indonesians? And the government has tried its best so Palestine can achieve its rights and independence,'' Religious Affairs minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin told the crowd.
Indonesia has condemned President Donald Trump's decision, with President Joko Widodo joining other world Islamic leaders last Wednesday in an emergency summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul.
The leaders urged world powers to recognize occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of the ''State of Palestine'' diplomats said.
Backed by Muslim countries, the Palestinians are expected to turn to the UN General Assembly to adopt a resolution rejecting the US decision, if, as expected, the measure is vetoed by the United States at the council.
Aside from the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia can veto any resolution presented at the council, which requires nine votes for adoption. and declared Trump's decision ''null and void legally.''
The UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution which would find that any change to the status of Jerusalem has no legal effect and must be reversed.
The status of Jerusalem, a city considered holy by Christians, Jews and Muslims, is a sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital. The Palestinians want the eastern sector, which the international community regards as annexed by Israel in 1967, as the capital of their future state.