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Abu Dhabi Crown Prince says UAE hopes Washington would reconsider its decision
ISTANBUL/PARIS/DUBAI: Decisions made at the approaching meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will show that US recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital will not be easy to implement, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday.
A spokesman for Erdogan on Wednesday had announced that the OIC would a hold an urgent meeting in Turkey on Dec. 13 to coordinate a response to the decision by the United States.
The OIC, established in 1969, consists of 57 member states with a Muslim majority or a large Muslim population.
“We explained to all our interlocutors that the United States’ decision does not comply with international law, diplomacy or humanity,” Erdogan said at a Justice and Development Party (AKP) assembly in Turkey’s central province of Sivas, referring to phone calls he made to leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and the Pope.
“With the roadmap we will create during the OIC meeting, we will show that the decision will not be easy to implement,” he said, adding that Turkey considers US President Trump’s Jerusalem announcement void.
The Arab League, in a statement issued after an emergency session in Cairo on Saturday, called the announcement a “dangerous violation of international law” and said it would seek a U.N. Security Council resolution rejecting the US move.
The Arab League, which consists of Arabic-speaking nations, currently has 22 active member states.
Trump’s announcement has also upset US allies in the West. At the United Nations, France, Italy, Germany, Britain and Sweden called on the United States to “bring forward detailed proposals for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement”.
Palestinians took to the streets after the US announcement. Demonstrations also took place in Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Somalia, Yemen, Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as outside the US Embassy in Berlin.
NETANYAHU SAYS WON’T TAKE LECTURES FROM ERDOGAN:
On the other hand, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not take any lectures from Erdogan after the Turkish leader criticised Israel over the weekend.
“Mr Erdogan has attacked Israel. I‘m not used to receiving lectures about morality from a leader who bombs Kurdish villages in his native Turkey, who jails journalists, helps Iran go around international sanctions and who helps terrorists, including in Gaza, kill innocent people,” Netanyahu told reporters at a news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron.
‘TRUMP’S JERUSALEM DECISION COULD HELP MILITANTS’:
Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital could provide a lifeline to militants after the setbacks they suffered this year, the de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has warned.
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan also said that the UAE hopes that Washington would reconsider its decision.
“The US move could throw a lifebuoy to terrorist and armed groups, which have begun to lose ground in the region,” said Sheikh Mohammed, speaking to a delegation from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The comments were carried in a report on state news agency WAM published late on Saturday.
Sheikh Mohammed said Trump’s unilateral decision violates UN resolutions, and urged Washington to “reconsider its move and work basically in an effective and neutral manner to draft true principles for peace that serve all and realize development and stability in the region”, according to WAM.