The United States has found itself isolated in the UN Security Council over its recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel with plans afoot to move its Embassy from Tel Aviv.
During an urgent meeting of the council, countries expressed regret at Washington’s decision including close allies who called the actions unhelpful for the prospects of peace in the region.
While the UN has warned that the decision risks a violent escalation in tensions, the United States defended the move accusing the United Nations itself of having done more damage to the prospects of peace than advancing them.
“Over many years, the UN has outrageously been of the world’s foremost centres of hostility towards Israel. The UN has done much more damage to the prospects of Middle East Peace than to advance them. We will not be a party to that. The United States no longer stands by when Israel is unfairly attacked in the UN. And the US will not be lectured to by countries that lack any credibility when it comes to treating both Israelis and Palestinians fairly,” said US Ambassador Nikki Haley.
US allies and France also sharply disagreed with the US decision, the UK’s Ambassador Matthew Rycroft also called for Washington to produce a detailed peace plan for the region.
“In line with relevant Security Council resolution including 242, 478 and 2334, we regard East Jerusalem as part of the occupied Palestinian territories. We, therefore, disagree with the US decision to move its Embassy to Jerusalem and unilaterally to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel before a final status agreement.”
The US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel violates several Council resolutions that specifically call for countries to withdraw embassies from Jerusalem pending its final statutes determination.
Speaking from Jerusalem, the UN’s Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov predicted that in the absence of a negotiated peace deal, the region risked being engulfed in a vortex of religious radicalism.
“Just as much as it’s up to Israeli and Palestinian leaders to urgently advance a just and lasting resolution of this conflict. The SC has been clear that realizing a two-state solution with Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and Palestine is the only way that such a vision can be achieved.”
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