President of the United States of America (USA), Donald Trump, officially recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on Wednesday. The US embassy in Israel will now be shifted from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. There is chaos all across the globe after the administration officials announced that President Trump was going to go ahead with this move. The leaders of the Arab world, along with Palestinian leaders highlighted how this move will ruin all efforts for peaceful settlements in the Middle East. Pope Francis has also urged the leader to not go against the status quo and solve the problem through dialogue.
Manuel Hassassian, Palestinians’ UK representative, said that the move is the “kiss of death” and rightly so. Israel, on the other hand, has welcomed the decision with open arms. Their Education Minister, Naftali Bennett, has urged other governments of the world to follow the lead of USA and recognise Jerusalem as their capital city.
This is a time of crisis and all the countries are in unison against the move. Turkey has pledged to stand by the Palestinians in this hour of need. Turkish President, Tayyip Erdogan, has also contacted Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain to talk about the recent debacle. Boris Johnson also declared that the United Kingdom (UK) also has no plans to move their embassy from Tel Aviv. The Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also declared on Monday that all of the 57 member states will sever ties with the US or any state that recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The government of Pakistan has also pledged unequivocal support to Palestine because the recognition is a clear violation of international law and UN Security Council resolutions particularly UNSCR 478 of 1980. We must stand by Palestine at this time because the move completely disregards years of consensus building.