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EU vows push to make Jerusalem capital for Palestinians too
Robin Emmott
3 MIN READ

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The EU’s top diplomat pledged on Thursday to reinvigorate diplomacy with Russia, the United States, Jordan and others to ensure Palestinians have a capital in Jerusalem after U.S. President Donald Trump recognized the city as Israel’s capital.

The European Union, a member of the Middle East Quartet along with the United States, the United Nations and Russia, believes it has a duty to make its voice heard as the Palestinians’ biggest aid donor and Israel’s top trade partner.

“The European Union has a clear and united position. We believe the only realistic solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine is based on two states and with Jerusalem as the capital of both,” EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told a news conference.

She said she would meet Jordan’s foreign minister on Friday, while she and EU foreign ministers would discuss Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Brussels on Monday.

“The European Union will engage even more with the parties and with our regional and international partners. We will keep working with the Middle East Quartet, possibly in an enlarged format,” said Mogherini, citing Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as Norway. “We remain convinced that the role of the United States ... is crucial,” she said.

Mogherini, who also spoke to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, threw her weight behind Jordan’s King Abdullah, saying he was “a very wise man” that everyone should listen to as the custodian of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.

Trump’s decision stirred outrage across the Arab and Muslim world and alarm among U.S. allies and Russia because of Jerusalem’s internationally disputed status, and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas urged Palestinians to abandon peace efforts and launch a new uprising against Israel.

Mogherini stressed all 28 EU governments were united on the issue of Jerusalem and seeking a solution envisaging a Palestinian state on land Israel took in a 1967 war, but policy divisions within the bloc have weakened its influence.

“This is the consolidated European Union position,” she said, saying EU foreign ministers made that clear to U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday in Brussels.

Hurdles for the EU include its range of positions, ranging from Germany’s strong support for Israel to Sweden’s 2014 decision to officially recognize the state of Palestine.

The EU is also perceived by some in Israel as being too pro-Palestinian, partly because of the EU’s long-held opposition to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, diplomats say.

Israel: UN security council to discuss US recognition of Jerusalem
Meeting to be held as Palestinian protests and global criticism grow over Trump recognising Jerusalem as Israeli capital

Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem
Thursday 7 December 2017 12.50 GMT


The UN security council is expected to meet on Friday to discuss Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a decision against which condemnation continues to mount across the Middle East and internationally.

Eight countries on the 15-member council requested the meeting, including the UK, Italy and France, amid claims from Palestine and Turkey that Trump’s recognition is in breach of both international law and UN resolutions.

The EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said the bloc had united position that Jerusalem must be the capital of both Israel and a future Palestinian state. The Russian foreign ministry said US recognition risked “dangerous and uncontrollable consequences.”

As Palestinians held protests in several cities across the West Bank, most key US allies in the Middle East also joined criticism of the move.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, hailed Trump’s recognition as “historic” and claimed other countries were in contact about following the US’s lead, but was alone among regional leaders in praising the move.

Saudi Arabia’s royal court called it “unjustified and irresponsible” in a rare rebuke of the US, and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said Trump had thrown the Middle East into a “ring of fire”.

“Hey Trump! What do you want to do?” Erdoğan said as he left Ankara for a visit to Greece. “What kind of approach is this? Political leaders do not stir things up, they seek to make peace!”

The leader of the Hamas militant group, Ismail Haniyeh, called for a “day of rage” on Friday. “We should call for and we should work on launching an intifada in the face of the Zionist enemy,” he said in a speech in Gaza.

The US president defied overwhelming global opposition by recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and directing the state department to start making arrangements to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv.

“While previous presidents have made this a major campaign promise, they failed to deliver. Today, I am delivering,” he said in a short speech at the White House on Wednesday. “My announcement today marks the beginning of a new approach to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.”

It later emerged, in a memo leaked to Reuters news agency, that the US had privately asked Israel to temper its response to the announcement.

The state department document, dated 6 December, stated in talking points for diplomats at the US embassy in Tel Aviv to convey to Israeli officials: “While I recognise that you will publicly welcome this news, I ask that you restrain your official response.”

It went on: “We expect there to be resistance to this news in the Middle East and around the world. We are still judging the impact this decision will have on US facilities and personnel overseas.”

A second state department memo seen by Reuters asked European officials to argue that Trump’s decision did not prejudge the “final status” issue of Jerusalem’s sovereignty, which needed to be resolved in any peace agreement between Israel and Palestine.

“You are in a key position to influence international reaction to this announcement and we are asking you to amplify the reality that Jerusalem is still a final status issue between Israelis and Palestinians and that the parties must resolve the dimensions of Israel’s sovereignty in Jerusalem during their negotiations,” it said.

“You know that this is a unique administration.  It makes bold moves. But it is bold moves that are going to be needed if peace efforts are finally going to be successful.”

Details of the memos emerged as the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, was due to travel to Jordan on Thursday for talks with King Abdullah II, who has come out strongly against the move.

The United Arab Emirates and Iraq also condemned the decision. In Iraq, a prominent militia backed by Iran, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, said Trump’s decision could be a “legitimate reason” to attack US forces in the country.

The European Union and UN also voiced alarm at Trump’s decision, with France rejecting the “unilateral” decision and appealing for calm in the region.

Britain said the move would not help peace efforts and Jerusalem should ultimately be shared by Israel and a future Palestinian state. Germany said Jerusalem’s status could only be resolved on the basis of a two-state solution.

Jerusalem is home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths. Israel deems Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital dating to antiquity, and its status is one of the thorniest barriers to a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Its eastern side was captured by Israel in a 1967 war and annexed in a move not recognised internationally. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem for the capital of a future independent state.

diktotar wrote:cime ce jadni da ustanu protiv izraela/usa

MNE wrote:Palestinci, umjesto da iskuliraju i da budu gospoda. Ovako će opravdati odluku.

Generalni sekretarijat Vijeća islamskih učenjaka u Saudijskoj Arabiji jučer je objavio izjavu o Jerusalemu (Kudsu) u kojoj nema ni spomena o američkom predsjedniku Donaldu Trumpu i njegovoj odluci da prizna Jerusalem kao glavni grad Izraela, kao ni o prijenosu američke ambasade iz Tel Aviva u Jerusalem.

The US envoy to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has accused the UN of damaging the prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

The organisation "has outrageously been one of the world's foremost centres of hostility towards Israel", she said.

Ms Haley was addressing an emergency meeting of the Security Council called after President Donald Trump's decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.

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Ms Haley said the decision "recognises the obvious; that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel".

She said the US continued to be "committed to achieving a lasting peace agreement", and accused the UN of bias.

"Israel will never be, and never should be, bullied into an agreement by the United Nations or by any collection of countries that have proven their disregard for Israel's security."

Spoiler:

Zuper wrote:Izrael bombardovao/bombarduje Gazu, ima zrtava, ukljucujuci i decu.