U.S vetoes UN call for withdrawal of Trump Jerusalem decision

UNITED NATIONS, December 18: The United States was further isolated on Monday over President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital when it blocked a United Nations Security Council call for the declaration to be withdrawn.
The remaining 14 council members voted in favour of the Egyptian-drafted resolution, which did not specifically mention the United States or Trump but which expressed “deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem.”
The draft also affirmed, “that any decisions and actions which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council.”
Trump abruptly reversed decades of US policy this month when he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, generating outrage from Palestinians and the Arab world and concern among Washington’s western allies.
Trump also plans to move the US embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
“In the wake of the decision of the United States … the situation has become more tense with an increase in incidents, notably rockets fired from Gaza and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces,” UN Middle East peace envoy Nickolay Mladenov told the Security Council ahead of the vote.
He was briefing the council on the implementation of a resolution adopted in December 2016 that demanded an end to Israeli settlement building. Mladenov said that “no such steps” had been taken by Israel.
That resolution was approved with 14 votes in favour and an abstention by former US President Barack Obama’s administration, which defied pressure from Israel and Trump, who was then president-elect, for Washington to wield its veto. – Agencies