Jerusalem issue: Pakistan to move UN against US

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan told the OIC Ambassadorial Group at the United Nations, which met on Wednesday ahead of the UN General Assembly's special emergency session on Jerusalem status, that it would fully support and co-sponsor a resolution calling for the withdrawal of the US decision to recognise the holy city as Israel’s capital.

"Our support to the Palestinian cause and to the defence of al-Quds al-Sharif is and has always been a core principle of Pakistan's foreign policy," Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi, permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, said in a speech to the 57-member group's coordination meeting held to strategise its position for the 193-member assembly’s special session.

"Our support remains unwavering," she added. Ambassador Lodhi recalled that the first-ever stand alone General Assembly resolution on Jerusalem, GA Resolution 2253, adopted on July 4, 1967 at an Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly, was led and sponsored by Pakistan.

Thursday's special session, which will be General Assembly’s 10th, has been convened jointly by the Arab Group and the OIC following the US veto of the UN Security Council resolution rejecting President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

"The US veto (on Monday) of a resolution calling for withdrawal of the decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was doubling down on an already dangerously misplaced strategy, in perhaps the most sensitive geopolitical hotspot in the world," the Pakistani envoy said. "While the initial decision itself was dangerous, the veto attempted to legitimise a declaration that is already null and void, and lacks any legality," she said.

President Trump abruptly reversed decades of US policy when he recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital, generating outrage from the Arab and Islamic world and even concern among Washington's allies.

The draft resolution, submitted to the assembly, affirms "that any decisions and actions which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council."

Trump also said he planned to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. The draft resolution calls upon all the countries to refrain from establishing diplomatic missions in Jerusalem. "While the initial decision (US recognition of Israel) itself was dangerous, the veto attempted to legitimise a declaration that is already null and void, and lacks any legality," the Pakistani envoy said, adding that the international community will not be complicit in an illegal act. "This move undermines the international legal system and does not enable the Middle East to move in the direction of any revival of the peace process settlement," the ambassador said. "In fact," she said, "it further destabilises an already volatile and violent situation in the region."

"Not only does it diminish the prospects of peace, but it will further embolden the occupying power into defiance," the Pakistani envoy said. "It is therefore important for all of us in the global community to speak up in order to raise the political cost for the US for taking a wrong decision."

Under a 1950 decision resolution, an emergency session can be called for the General Assembly to consider a matter "with a view to making appropriate recommendations to members for collective measures" if the Security Council fails to act. Only 10 such sessions have been convened, and the last time the General Assembly met was in 2009 on occupied Jerusalem and Palestinian territories. Thursday' session will be resumption of that session.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that vote in favour of a draft United Nations resolution against his decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. "They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars, and then they vote against us. Well, we’re watching those votes. Let them vote against us. We’ll save a lot. We don’t care," Trump told reporters at the White House.