by WorldTribune Staff, December 7, 2017
Regional enemies Saudi Arabia and Iran see eye to eye on one issue. On Dec. 6 both regimes blasted U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and start the process of moving the U.S. embassy to the city.
Saudi Arabia called the move “unjustified and irresponsible.” Iran warned the decision could result in a “new intifada” against Israel.
“The kingdom expresses great regret over the U.S. president’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” said a Saudi royal court statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency and quoted by AFP.
The decision goes against the “historical and permanent rights of the Palestinian people,” the royal court said, calling on Trump to reconsider his decision.
“The U.S. move represents a significant decline in efforts to push a peace process and is a violation of the historically neutral American position on Jerusalem,” it added.
“The provocative and unwise decision by the U.S…. will provoke Muslims and inflame a new intifada and an escalation of radical, angry and violent behavior,” said the Iranian foreign ministry in a statement on its website, according to AFP.
The statement said Trump’s move was a “clear violation of international resolutions” and that Jerusalem was “an inseparable part of Palestine.”
“Iran strongly condemns this move and urges the international community, influential countries and especially Islamic countries to prevent the implementation of this U.S. action, which is only of benefit to the Zionist regime, to preserve the stability of the region,” said the statement.
Syrian President Bashar Assad said in a statement that Trump’s move would not dim the “Palestinian cause.”
“The future of Jerusalem is not set by a state or a president, but by its history, will, and the determination of those loyal to the Palestinian cause which will stay alive in the conscience of the Arab homeland until the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” Assad said.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri pledged his country’s “highest degrees of solidarity with the Palestinian people and its right to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. The American decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move the embassy there is a step that is rejected by the Arab world and risks spilling dangers over into the region.”
Jordan condemned Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as amounting to a violation of international law and the UN charter. “The decision of the American president to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the transfer of the US embassy to this city constitutes a violation of decisions of international law and the United Nations charter,” said government spokesman Mohammed Momani.
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) secretary-general Saeb Erekat said Trump’s decision “destroyed the two-state solution,” adding that Trump “disqualified his country from any role whatsoever” in the peace process.
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