Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a declaration by Muslim leaders that East Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine, reports Al Jazeera. In reaction to the declaration by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday, Netanyahu said that “all these statements fail to impress us”. “The truth will win in the end and many countries will certainly recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and also move their embassies,” he added in response to the comments made by Muslim leaders during the OIC’s emergency summit in Istanbul.
Earlier on Wednesday, the pan-Muslim body’s members called on the international community to follow in its footsteps by rejecting the US stance on Jerusalem as “dangerous”.
Trump announced on December 6 that the US formally recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will begin the process of moving its embassy to the city, breaking with decades of US policy.
Netanyahu added: “Not only is it the capital of Israel but in Jerusalem, we uphold freedom of worship for all faiths and it is we who are making this promise in the Middle East even though no one else does.”
The OIC also called on the United Nations to “end the Israeli occupation” of Palestine and declared Trump’s administration liable for “all the consequences of not retracting from this illegal decision”.
“[We] consider that this dangerous declaration, which aims to change the legal status of the [city], is null and void and lacks any legitimacy,” the group, with representatives from 57 states, said.
The Istanbul summit was attended by just over 20 heads of state. Saudi Arabia, the host of the OIC headquarters, sent only a senior foreign ministry official. Others, including Egypt,
deployed their foreign ministers. During the summit, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the move effectively “disqualifies” the US as an honest broker in talks between Israel and Palestine. The extraordinary OIC summit was called for by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following Trump’s announcement. Founded in 1969, the OIC bills itself as “the collective voice of the Muslim world”.
Trump’s move kindled a wave of protests from Asia, through the Middle East, to North Africa, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets in recent days to denounce his decision.
In the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, demonstrations met violence when Israeli forces fired live ammunition, dispersed tear gas canisters, and carried out a wave of arrests, leaving more than 1,900 people injured and imprisoning more than 250. In the Gaza Strip, several Israeli air raids killed four people, and injured at least 25 others.
Meanwhile, Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) has threatened attacks in the United States in retaliation for Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, according to one of the terrorist group's social media accounts, reports RT. The message was relayed on an account on the Telegram instant message service. In that message, IS said it would carry out operations in the US, showing photos of New York's Times Square and what appeared to be an explosive belt and detonator.
Calling the US president a "dog," the message promised a response to that decision by "recognising explosives" as the capital of the United States, Reuters reported.
Trump announced his formal recognition of the ancient city as the Jewish state's capital last week. “I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Previous presidents have made this a major campaign promise, they failed to deliver. Today, I am delivering," he said. The move prompted anger across the Muslim world, along with criticism from most EU states, Russia and China.
On Wednesday, Hamas renewed its call for a new infitada, or uprising: "The Hamas movement has called on the Palestinian people to face the Israeli occupation and adopt the blessed intifada option against it and against the American decision on Jerusalem," Hamas spokesperson Abdullatif Al Qanoua told RT.
Meanwhile, Iran's defense minister said Trump's decision would speed up the destruction of Tehran's arch rival: “(Trump‘s) move will hasten the destruction of the Zionist regime [Israel] and will double unity among Muslims,” Brigadier General Hatami told a meeting of senior military officials Monday, as cited by various Iranian media outlets.