Donald Trump Has Declared Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel

Donald Trump has declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This dangerous announcement is going to provoke violence across the world as the declaration does not take into consideration the international rules and standards and defies the international community.

The declaration is opposing all the United Nations resolutions approved by the United States (Resolution 242-338), which clearly reject the occupation and prevent any change of the status and nature of the occupied territories, especially in Al-Quds.

Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967 and subsequent occupation of the area is considered illegal by the United Nation.

It is now very important that the international community remains totally involved and refuses the initiative of Donald Trump and his vice-president as it is a chaotic strategy to declare Jerusalem as a capital of Israel.
There is a great concern over the current and delicate status of the peace in the region. Jerusalem is an occupied territory, subject to international principles.

In a statement adopted by the Council of Ministers of the European Union, and endorsed by several other European countries, it was declared that:
“East Jerusalem is subject to the principles set out in Security Council resolution 242 (1967) of 22 November 1967, notably the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force, and is therefore not under Israeli sovereignty … the Fourth Geneva Convention is fully applicable to East Jerusalem, as it is to other territories under occupation. The Council determined that “the decision of Israel to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Holy City of Jerusalem is illegal and therefore null and void and has no validity whatsoever”.

Moreover, it deplored “the transfer by some States of their diplomatic missions to Jerusalem in violation of Security Council resolution 478 (1980) and their refusal to comply with the provisions of that resolution”, and called once more upon those States concerned to abide by the provisions of the relevant United Nations resolutions, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations.

The Security Council was unable to act on repeated occasions on the issue of land expropriation and settlement in East Jerusalem but it reaffirmed its relevant resolutions on the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to the territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, and Israel’s responsibilities there under, on the occasion of a debate on the massacre of Palestinians by a Jewish settler in Hebron in early 1994 (Security Council resolution 904). In several occasions, the UN Council recalled its previous resolutions on Jerusalem and called for the immediate cessation and reversal of all acts that have resulted in the aggravation of the situation and that have negative implications for the peace process, and for the safety and protection of Palestinian civilians to be ensured.

It is now important and urgent that the international community reiterates the previous positions and reaffirms that under no circumstances would it recognize the actions taken by Donald Trump and/or Israel, the occupying Power, designed to change the legal status, geographical nature and demographic composition of Al-Quds, and calls upon countries throughout the world to refuse to recognize such changes.

  
Anouar GHARBI
General Secretary