U.S. angers Muslim world
Decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is called a blow to peace efforts.
JERUSALEM — Fresh anger poured in from across the Muslim world Wednesday as President Trump said the United States recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a move that Arab and European leaders have warned could spark violence and destroy any hopes of reviving the Mideast peace process.
Israel responded with satisfaction to the president’s announcement, in which Trump also said he was setting in motion the process of moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv. In a show of appreciation, the Jerusalem municipality projected the American and Israeli f lags onto the walls of the Old City, home to important Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites.
Yet even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the president’s declaration as “courageous and just,” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas slammed the “destruction of all the efforts to achieve peace.”
Ahead of the announcement, U.S. allies in the Middle East and Europe had urged Trump to refrain from taking steps they fear could ignite unrest across the region.
Jerusalem’s status is one of the most sensitive and inflammatory issues fueling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel claims the city in entirety as its capital; Palestinians want the eastern sector to be the seat of government for a future state.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, speaking from New York moments after the president finished his address, said Jerusalem’s status was an issue to be decided through negotiations.
“In this moment of great anxiety, I want to make it clear there is no alternative to the two-state solution,” he said, referring to a broad international consensus supporting side-by-side Israeli and Palestinian states.
At the Vatican, Pope Francis prayed that Jerusalem’s status quo would be preserved to avoid adding new tension to a world “already shaken and scarred by many cruel conflicts.”
Leaders from Britain, France, Germany and Italy joined in the chorus of opprobrium for Trump’s decision.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meeting in the Turkish capital with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, said the U.S. president’s stance would provide a boost for terrorist groups. The leaders plan to convene extraordinary meetings of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League in the coming days to discuss the region’s response to the U.S. moves.
The status of Israel is one of the few issues that unites leaders in a part of the world riven by war and sectarian divides. Archrivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, which are engaged in deadly proxy conflicts in Yemen and Syria, have offered some of the harshest commentary about Trump’s plan in recent days.
The Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said at a gathering of Iranian officials Wednesday that “without a doubt, the Islamic world will resist this conspiracy … and beloved Palestine will finally be freed,” the semiofficial Fars news agency reported.
Palestinians, already discouraged over what they describe as a consistently pro-Israel stance by the United States, said Trump’s decision essentially killed any remaining peace hopes. Leaders called for three “days of rage” culminating after Friday prayers.
Although protests in the West Bank were muted Wednesday, in part because of the cold weather and rain, hundreds took to the streets in the Gaza Strip, chanting angry slogans against the U.S. and Israel, and burning the flags of both countries.
“Trump has just declared the end of the two-state solution,” said Tahrir Aloumor, 36, who joined a demonstration in the Jabaliya refugee camp. “Shame on you, Trump.”
laura.king@latimes.com alexandra.zavis @latimes.com Special correspondent Zedan reported from Jerusalem and Times staff writers Zavis and King from Beirut and Washington, respectively. Special correspondents Rushdi Abualouf in Gaza City, Omar Medhat in Cairo and Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran contributed to this report.