Jordanian official on U.S. embassy being relocated to Jerusalem: Not a problem

by WorldTribune Staff, May 2, 2017

Despite the hue and cry in the international arena, the former Jordanian minister of culture said there is no need for Arabs to oppose the United States moving its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Tareq Al-Masarwa, writing for the government daily newspaper Al Rai, and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), claimed that: “The Americans can move their embassy to the new [part of] Jerusalem [i.e. the western part] without sparking any serious rage among the Arabs.

U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. / Reuters

“This is for the simple reason that the Palestinians and Arabs demand the Old City [of Jerusalem] – which they lost in the 1967 war, known as the Six Day War – as the capital of their state. I have not heard anyone demanding the 1948 part of Jerusalem [i.e., West Jerusalem], neither Hamas, the PLO nor anyone else.”

Al-Masarwa’s comments came prior to a vote at UNESCO – the UN’s cultural agency – on a resolution that accuses Israel of violating international law in its capital city, Arutz Sheva reported.

Jordan was not among the Arab sponsors of the resolution, which include Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan.

The resolution states that “all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and in particular the ‘basic law’ on Jerusalem, are null and void and must be rescinded forthwith.”

U.S. officials have said that UNESCO is constantly being used as a tool to delegitimize Israel.

Al-Masarwa also predicted that Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas would have a “meaningful” visit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on May 3 and added that Trump “can play the game of ‘Jerusalem the capital [of Israel]’ without causing awkwardness for [either] U.S. policy or his allies.”

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