AGL 42.11 Increased By ▲ 3.57 (9.26%)
AIRLINK 128.52 Decreased By ▼ -0.98 (-0.76%)
BOP 6.18 Increased By ▲ 0.57 (10.16%)
CNERGY 4.05 Increased By ▲ 0.19 (4.92%)
DCL 8.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.23 (-2.63%)
DFML 40.75 Decreased By ▼ -1.01 (-2.42%)
DGKC 87.62 Decreased By ▼ -0.68 (-0.77%)
FCCL 34.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.70 (-2%)
FFBL 66.35 Decreased By ▼ -1.00 (-1.48%)
FFL 10.55 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.57%)
HUBC 108.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.06%)
HUMNL 14.52 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-0.95%)
KEL 4.68 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-1.47%)
KOSM 7.25 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (4.32%)
MLCF 42.65 Increased By ▲ 1.00 (2.4%)
NBP 61.51 Increased By ▲ 1.91 (3.2%)
OGDC 179.75 Decreased By ▼ -3.25 (-1.78%)
PAEL 25.78 Decreased By ▼ -0.47 (-1.79%)
PIBTL 6.05 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.34%)
PPL 146.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.70 (-0.48%)
PRL 24.06 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (1.91%)
PTC 16.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-0.97%)
SEARL 70.30 Increased By ▲ 2.00 (2.93%)
TELE 7.25 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.28%)
TOMCL 36.11 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (0.45%)
TPLP 7.85 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
TREET 15.59 Increased By ▲ 1.39 (9.79%)
TRG 50.61 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (0.32%)
UNITY 26.90 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (0.56%)
WTL 1.24 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (2.48%)
BR100 9,818 Increased By 12.2 (0.12%)
BR30 29,689 Increased By 11 (0.04%)
KSE100 92,317 Increased By 13.1 (0.01%)
KSE30 28,773 Decreased By -67.2 (-0.23%)

As expected, Wednesday's emergency summit of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) in response to US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and shift his country's embassy to the city produced a lot of brave words but no concrete action, such as boycott of products made in Israel or by US companies doing business with Tel Aviv. The statement issued at end of the event declared Trump's decision "null and void" and "a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts." Furthermore, it declared "East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine." Which may have some moral value but of little practical help considering that the statement called on "all countries" rather the 57 OIC members to "recognise Jerusalem as its occupied capital." No wonder, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said he is not impressed by the OIC statement. Only the Palestinian President Mehmoud Abbas had something solid to say as he averred, "we do not accept any role of the United States in the political process from now on because it is completely biased towards Israel." In other words, the US' role as a peace mediator is dead in the water.
Even though OIC has its permanent headquarters in Riyadh neither the Saudi monarch nor his powerful son, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, attended its emergency meeting, choosing to be represented by a lowly foreign ministry official. Unfortunately, the Arab countries are riven by internal divisions. They are unwilling to antagonize Israel or jeopardize their relations with the Trump administration. In fact, various reports speak of a Gulf state's behind-the-scenes contacts with Israel for better cooperation against the common adversary, Iran. Netanyahu has opening been talking of an increasing rapprochement with "moderate Arab states."
Be that as it may, Arab governments' indifferent reaction to the US move will further alienate them from their peoples. It has caused widespread anger and dismay. Israeli leaders, of course, are gloating over what the US president has done for them but it won't bring them peace. Jerusalem is at the core of Palestinian identity and nationhood. They are not going to let the US or its regional allies gift it to Israel. Also, the move will give a new cause to extremist elements such as the IS and al Qaeda remnants and their sympathizers to fight for. It is worth remembering that at the heart of the anti-West sentiments in the Muslim world is the injustice of the Palestinian situation. In the present instance, though, several Western countries, including Britain, France, Italy and Sweden strongly condemned, at an emergency UNSC meeting, America's decision pending 'final status' talks. Trump will have only himself to blame for any escalation in violence against US interests in the region or farther afield.

Comments

Comments are closed.