Muslim Leaders Unite Against Trump

Source: Newsweek Magazine




MUSLIM LEADERS UNITE AGAINST TRUMP, SAY EAST JERUSALEM SHOULD BE PALESTINIAN CAPITAL

BY CRISTINA MAZA ON 12/14/17 AT 9:53 AM

Muslim leaders from 57 countries joined forces on Wednesday to condemn President Donald Trump’s decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel and call on the world to recognize “the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital.”

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) met in Istanbul exactly one week after Trump announced that the U.S. officially recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will be relocating its embassy to the city from Tel Aviv. The status of Jerusalem is at the center of Israel's conflict with the Palestinians because the city is sacred to both Judaism and Islam, and many in the Muslim world believe that Israel is illegally occupying Jerusalem.

In a communique issued during Wednesday’s meeting in Turkey, participants said they consider Trump’s Jerusalem announcement “an attack on the historical, legal, natural and national rights of the Palestinian people,” and said they “reject and condemn in the strongest terms the unilateral decision by the President of the United States America recognizing [Jerusalem] as the so-called capital of Israel.”

Half of Jerusalem, the eastern portion, had been envisioned as the future capital of a Palestinian state, when and if a two-state solution is reached between Israel and Palestine. For many across the Middle East, Trump’s announcement last week put an end to any chance of a peace agreement by giving Israel what it wanted without extracting any concessions.

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