The Jerusalem vote

When the UN overwhelmingly voted against the US in the General Assembly session on Thursday, it became an historic vote. Even the closest allies of the US, such as the UK, France, and Germany, voiced their concerns. When US President Donald Trump threatened to cut funds for countries that vote condemning Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, he was showing his usual disdain for international community. This kind of disdain is not new in international politics, but in the first half of the 20th century it mostly came from dictators and usurpers.

Mussolini of Italy, Hitler of Germany, Franco of Spain, Stalin of the USSR, or Tojo of Japan – all showed a certain contempt for the rest of the world when it came to protecting their own interests. In the second half of the previous century, Israel and the US emerged as the biggest violators of UN resolutions passed against Israeli aggression and occupation in the Palestinian territories. Now, the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has further exposed Trump’s insistence to follow his foolhardy policies.

Jerusalem is unique among all the disputed territories in the world, because it is not only an occupied territory but also recognised by most UN members as so. Earlier in December, the Jordanian foreign minister had announced that if America recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, it would have dire consequences. Jerusalem is located on the West Bank of the Dead Sea and is a sacred place of worship for Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Jerusalem is one of the foremost pilgrimage sites for the three Abrahamic religions. It contains the famous Wailing Wall for the Jews, the First Qibla for the Muslims, and the Holy Sepulchre for the Christians.

Now both Israel and Palestine claim that Jerusalem is their historical and legal capital, but Israel has its de-facto control over Jerusalem. Israel has established most of its government offices there; whereas the Palestinian state only wishes to have done so. When we talk about the state of Palestine, it means the West Bank of the Jordan River and the Gaza Strip that has land boundaries with both Egypt and Israel. Though the Palestinian state claims to make Jerusalem its capital, their administrative offices are in the town of Ramallah.

Since 1967, Israel has occupied most of the territories that should have belonged to Palestinians. Israel had won the six-day Arab-Israel War in 1967. Now the total population of the Palestinian state or authority is around five million. Though the state of Israel was in the making since 1917, the problem intensified after the Second World War, when the UN approved a plan to divide this area into two independent states for the Jews and Palestinians separately.

Jerusalem was supposed to come under international administration, where the followers of all religions could come and go freely. The UN General Assembly approved the plan with a two-thirds majority, but it could never be implemented. The Arabs wanted to keep the entire region under their control as it was in the past, but for the sake of peace they accepted the UN plan. Israel, though, outright rejected any such settlement. In May 1948, when the state of Israel was created the neighbouring Arab states invaded it.

In September 1948, the Arab League announced the establishment of a Palestinian local government the purpose of which was to rule over the Gaza Strip administrated by Egypt. During the Arab-Israel War in 1948, when the Palestinian government was set up, Jordan did not recognise it. It is interesting to note that Jordan, as an independent country, had emerged on the world map only in 1946; and it was in 1948 that it occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River. Then in 1967 war, the same region was occupied by Israel. Later in 1994, Jordan concluded a peace agreement with Israel, becoming the only second Arab country after Egypt to do so.

Now Jordan is also protesting at the American recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This recognition was part of Trump’s presidential campaign. There is hardly any doubt that the Trump election owed a lot to the support he received from the Jewish lobby.

Tel Aviv, which is where the American embassy in currently Israel is based, had been the administrative capital of Israel for 18 months after its creation. Then in December 1949, most of the government offices were shifted to Jerusalem. Since it was disputed territory in the eyes of the international community, most embassies remained in Tel Aviv. Even now all embassies are in Tel Aviv or in its surrounding areas.

In the changing scenario, the Saudi role cannot be ignored. In November, the chief of the Israeli armed forces, for the first time gave an interview to an online Arabic newspaper and declared that Israel would collaborate with Saudi Arabia to contain Iran.

One reason for this increasing warmth between Israel and Saudi Arabia is the increasing public acrimony between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of helping Hezbollah and other militant outfits in Arab countries to increase Iranian influence there. The deteriorating situation in Yemen is another bone of contention between Iran and Saudi Arabia, both blaming each other for the civil war in Yemen. There have been reports of missiles being fired from Yemen towards Riyadh. These few missiles get much more coverage in the international media, which is generally regarded as pro-Zionist. The wholesale destruction of Yemen, perceived to be at the hands of the Saudis, hardly gets any mention.

The latest situation is that Trump is angry at the nations that support Palestinians. According to him, “all these nations that take our money and then vote against us at the Security Council and then at the General Assembly, take our money in hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars and then vote against us. Well, we are watching those votes.” This is classic Trumpism.

The writer holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham, UK and works in Islamabad.

Email: Mnazir1964@yahoo.co.uk