Voting 128-9 today, with 35 abstentions, the United Nations General Assembly approved a Cairo-drafted non-binding resolution to reject 71-year-old President Donald Trump’s Dec. 6 decision to accept Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Over objections from U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley, the General Assembly affirmed that the fate of Jerusalem must be decided by negotiations between Israel and Palestinians. While there’s no plans for more peace talks, especially brokered by the U.S., the General Assembly did what couldn’t be done in the Security Council with a U.S. veto: Accepted the Egyptian-backed measure to say Jerusalem sovereignty must be decided by negotiations. When Trump made his decision Dec. 8 to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, it wasn’t to infringe on Palestinian rights or any other group with a vested interest in who controls Jerusalem in the future.
Turkey’s 63-year-old President Recep Tayyip Erdogan led the charge against Trump, insisting that he’d build a Turkish embassy in East Jerusalem, currently under Israeli control. Of all the foreign leaders, Turkey has the most vested interest in seeing Jerusalem return to Muslim hands, after losing the territory after the 1918 end of the Turkish Empire in WW I Signing the Treaty of Sevres Aug. 10, 1920, the Ottoman Empire was carved up, leaving only modern-day Turkey as its territory. Ottoman’s vast empire ruled for nearly 500 years, losing Jerusalem to the British in 1922 in what was called the ”British Mandate of Palestine,” eventually given to Jews in 1948 to form the State of Israel. Today’s vote reflects the nearly 500-years of the Holy Land under Muslim control. Many U.N. Muslim-member-states would like to see Jerusalem restored as a Muslim capital.
Trump’s Dec. 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital sparked rioting in the so-called Palestinian territories, despite knowing that the U.S. position on the subject was purely its own. No one in the U.S. speaks for any U.N. member nor does any U.N. member speak for the U.S. Haley made clear that the U.S. decision isn’t binding on anyone, other than the U.S. Yet Palestinians felt compelled to rally Muslim nations at the U.N. to reject Trump’s decision to accept Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Haley made it clear that Trump’s decision to relocate the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem was not subject to U.N. approval. “The United States will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly for the very act of exercising or right as a sovereign nation,” said Haley. Watching the General Assembly readily condemn the U.S. was a sobering event.
Haley implied that whatever foreign aid the U.S. doles out, it could very well adjust those figures to match the vitriol coming from U.N.-member states. What irks the Muslim world about Jerusalem is that for the last 50 years Israel has served as a responsible steward for Christian, Muslim and Jewish holy sites. Aside from occasional terrorist attacks, Jerusalem under Israeli control has been a stable custodian since the end of the 1967 Six-Day-War. Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahoud Abbas said Dec. 13 he would no longer deal with the U.S. as a peace broker. While Abbas got the vote he wanted in the General Assembly, he’s nowhere when it comes to Mideast peace and a two-state solution. Without the U.S. as peace-broker, there’s no path to statehood other than armed conflict. Other that terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, there’s no Mideast or North African sovereign state willing to sacrifice sovereignty for another war with Israel
Trump’s Dec. 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in no way prejudices Palestinians’ bargaining position in final status talks for an independent state. Overreacting to Trump’s decision, Palestinians’ have made prospects for a two-state solution more difficult. Given the untold millions spent on Mideast peacemaking over the last 40 years, Haley found it difficult to watch the General Assembly denounce the U.S. “With this U.N. vote [Thursday], the Palestinians want to show the U.S that the majority of the world backs their positions,” said NPR’s Daniel Estrin. Estrin thinks Palestinians want to sideline the U.S. from future peace talks. Without the U.S. as broker, Palestinians have no way to reach a deal with Israel because of the anti-Israel bias in the U.N.. Haley wonders why Israel stays in the U.N when most of its members want Israel dissolved.
Voting to condemn Trump’s Dec. 6 decisions to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the U.N. showed its true colors on Israel. Instead of working to clarify the U.S. position on Jerusalem, Palestinians have worked to marginalize the U.S. in any future peace talks. Palestinians want to call the shots but know they struggle to keep the lights on in Gaza and the West Bank. If they’d try to cooperate with Israel, they’d find a welcome peace partner to negotiate for a future state. As long Palestinians whip up anti-Semitism with their “Zionist” rhetoric, the prospects look dim. “To its shame, the United Nations has long been a hostile place for the state of Israel,” said Haley. “It’s a wrong that undermines the credibility of this institution and that, in turn, is harmful for the entire world.” Trying to condemn and marginalize the U.S., Abbas takes an empty detour away from an independent state.
