Kuala Lumpur: Foreign ministers from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on Thursday indirectly condemned plans by US President-elect Donald Trump to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to occupied Jerusalem.
A statement issued after a meeting in Kuala Lumpur didn’t mention the United States or Trump by name, but said the OIC rejected any actions that could undermine the ability of Palestinians to claim part of Jerusalem in a future state.
It called on governments to desist from any activities that might encourage Israel to “pursue its illegal occupation and annexation of ... East Jerusalem, including any such encouragement through the transfer of their diplomatic missions to the city.”
The statement invited its 57 member states “to take the necessary steps and measures” in response to any such hostile position, but didn’t elaborate.
Trump has vowed to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, a politically charged act that would anger Palestinians who want occupied East Jerusalem, home to key Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, as the capital of a future state.
The move would also distance the US from much of the international community, including its closest allies in Western Europe and the Arab world.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in a move that is not internationally recognised. It claims the entire city as its capital.
