The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has highlighted the diplomatic isolation that now surrounds the administration of United States President Donald Trump over its ill-advised, ill-timed and illegitimate move to declare occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. On Monday, in New York, the UNSC voted by 14-1 on a motion calling for the withdrawal of the US president’s recognition that came two weeks ago and reversed seven decades of international agreement and diplomatic convention. The motion failed, however, with Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the UN being forced to use her nation’s veto — a rare move that shows the extent to which this decision has alienated the White House from all other members of the council.
Haley, however, went further, castigating the 14 other members for supporting the Egypt-penned resolution, calling their actions an “insult” to the US and one that would not be forgotten. No, Ms Haley, you are indeed wrong on both counts when it comes to this grievous error and political misstep by the White House. What is insulting is that Trump has put petty politics above the lives and limited liberties of Palestinians, bowing to vocal Zionists from the cocktail party circuit in Manhattan and cowing to powerful Jewish lobbyists in Washington. And what will not be forgotten by generations of Palestinians who have been displaced from their homes, forced to live in a land illegally occupied, and repressed by Apartheid-like laws and the repression of occupation forces patrolling Palestinian streets and towns, is that the current US president betrayed their cause in the name of political expediency and to support the rabble of right-wing rabbis surrounding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
What won’t be forgotten by Palestinian Christians is that occupied Jerusalem is a city that is shaped by 2,000 years of history, heritage and beliefs, and it is a city whose ancient alleys and historic landmarks belong not to Jews alone, but to people of three religions. And what won’t be forgotten by Palestinian Muslims is that for the past decade, Israel has been intent on undermining the sanctity of Al Haram Al Sharif, Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Now, with this egregious move by the Trump administration in recognising occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the occupation forces and febrile Jews are emboldened to isolate the faithful from these holy sites. And what will not be forgotten either is that those who have been protesting this decision so far did so furthering the just and righteous cause of Palestinian freedom.
