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Not long ago, President Donald Trump promised to bring peace in the Middle East by declaring two States in the Palestinian territories as his priority pre-election campaign. But now he has made just a U-turn following his declaration to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the American embassy there from Tel Aviv. He announced this on December 6 this year and it was communicated to President Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation over telephone. Trump's decision has virtually set at naught nearly seven decades of US policy of founding of the state of Israel in 1948 on the basis of the UN partition plan resolution 181 to divide Palestinian territories in 1947 between Arab and Israel and declared Jerusalem as a corpus separatism which means in Latin a city or region granted a legal and special status administered by the UN.
Israel's basic law enacted in 1980 declared Jerusalem as the country's undivided capital but the international community rejected the annexation as illegal and treats East Jerusalem as Palestine territory. The UN Security Council passed a resolution 478 on August 20 of 1980 declaring the basic law was in violation of international law and must be rescinded. The Palestine authority considered East Jerusalem as an occupied territory according to UN resolution 242 while UN General Assembly resolution affirmed Palestine people have the right to sovereignty over East Jerusalem.
The US President said it is time to officially recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel which is long overdue to advance the cause of peace process. The US President's declaration has turned out to be a gift for hawkish Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu who is facing serious criticism at home for his rampant corruption charges. The Israeli Prime Minister welcomed the decision as a victory for Israel.
The announcement by the US President has triggered immediate criticism from around the world. Apart from Arab countries, the European Union expressed serious concern about the announcement while French President Macron said France would not follow the US decision. Two non-Arab countries Turkey and Iran also criticised the decision. The UN Secretary-General is reported to have said that status quo of Jerusalem must be resolved through negotiations as has been the stand taken by top diplomat of the European Union Federica Mogherini in front of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who was on a visit to Brussels. President Mahmoud Abbas declared that the move undermined the United States' role as world peacemaker. Pope Francis of the Vatican and the Chinese Foreign Ministry joined the chorus of condemnation. Similarly, 10 Downing Street of London did not go along with the decision of the White House although Balfour declaration on November 2 of 1917 during World War I was instrumental in creating Israel on Arab lands. The Balfour declaration was prepared by British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour for establishing a national home for Jewish people in Palestine. Britain was mandated by the League of Nations to supervise Palestine after break-up of the Ottoman empire and the mandate expired in 1949.
Ever since Palestine was occupied during 1967 war with Arab countries by Israel, conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians had been continuing unabated. Therefore, the onus lies with the government of the United Kingdom along with France to disintegrate the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. There had been enough blood of the Palestinians and if another Intifada occurs there will be further bloodshed. Already clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians took place in West Bank and Gaza Strip following the announcement of President Trump and his picture was burnt. The UN should evolve a mechanism to resolve the decades-long crisis.
The writer is a retired diplomat from Bangladesh and former President of Nova chapter of Toastmaster International Club of America.