The Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs condemns the US President’s decision announced on Wednesday evening, December 6th 2017 that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the transfer of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv. The recent US decision is a challenge to the resolutions of international legitimacy issued by the General Assembly of the United Nations and the Security Council since the General Assembly Resolution 181 of 1947 on the partition of Palestine under the British Mandate, voted for it by the United States of America, which was based on Ben Gurion on 15th of May 1948 in the declaration of creating the state of Israel. This gave Jerusalem, in the third part of the partition plan, a special status “Corpus Sepratum” under a special international regime.
The last American resolution is also a challenge to other resolutions of international legitimacy, especially Security Council resolution 242 (1967), which stipulates Israel’s withdrawal from all the territories occupied since June 5th 1967, including Jerusalem, and Resolution 478 of 1980, which rejected the Israeli government’s decision to annex Jerusalem and considering it as an eternal capital to the state of Israel. Moreover the Security Council resolution 2334 of 2016 not to recognize any changes that Israel makes to the 1967 lines, including Jerusalem, other than through negotiations, as well as other relevant resolutions of the General Assembly.
The latest American decision is a provocation to the feelings of the Arab peoples, Muslims and Christians throughout the world. The American recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is a risk that adversely affects the chances and possibility of Washington acting as a neutral and impartial mediator to reach a comprehensive peace settlement of the conflict in the Middle East and settle the differences between Palestinians and Israelis based on the two-state solution.
In this sense, the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs supports the announcement made by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that he will make every effort to resume negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis based on the two-state solution.
Cairo on December 7th 2017
