UNITED NATIONS: US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is "not in line" with UN Security Council resolutions and is "unhelpful," five European countries said Friday.
The UN envoys from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden also said the move was "unhelpful in terms of prospects for peace in the region," in a joint statement issued after emergency Security Council talks on the issue.
Earlier, Britain called on the United States on Friday to put forward detailed proposals for peace between Israel and the Palestinians and described as "unhelpful" a decision by President Donald Trump to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Trump's reversal of decades of US policy on Wednesday sparked a Palestinian "day of rage" on Friday. Thousands of Palestinians demonstrated, scores were hurt and at least one was killed in clashes with Israeli troops.
Amid anger in the Arab world and concern among Washington's Western allies, the United Nations Security Council met on Friday at the request of eight of the 15 members - Britain, France, Sweden, Bolivia, Uruguay, Italy, Senegal and Egypt.
"These decisions are unhelpful for the prospects of peace in the region," British UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said of the US move, which includes plans to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
"We strongly encourage the U.S. administration to bring forward detailed proposals for an Israeli, Palestinian settlement," he said. "The UK will also do everything we can to support progress and achieve the vision of a lasting peace." Egypt's UN Ambassador Amr Aboulatta said the US decision would have "a grave, negative impact" on the peace process.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the Washington has credibility as a mediator with both Israel and the Palestinians and accused the United Nations of damaging rather than advancing peace prospects with unfair attacks on Israel.
"Israel will never be, and should never be, bullied into an agreement by the United Nations, or by any collection of countries that have proven their disregard for Israel's security," Haley said.
Escalation risk
Haley said Trump was committed to the peace process and that the United States had not taken a position on Jerusalem's borders or boundaries and was not advocating any changes to the arrangements at the holy sites.
"Our actions are intended to help advance the cause of peace," she said. "We believe we might be closer to that goal than ever before." Earlier on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said during a news conference in Paris that any final decision on the status of Jerusalem would depend on negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
United Nations Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov warned there was a risk of violent escalation.
"There is a serious risk today that we may see a chain of unilateral actions, which can only push us further away from achieving our shared goal of peace," Mladenov told the UN Security Council.
