UK foreign minister: Jerusalem should be 'shared capital'

UK foreign minister: Jerusalem should be 'shared capital'

Britain’s chief diplomat Boris
Johnson told the Palestinian Authority’s Riyad al-Malki on Monday that
Jerusalem will ultimately be shared by Israel and a future Palestinian state,
according to a statement from the British foreign office .

“I
reiterated the UK’s commitment to supporting the Palestinian people and the
two-state solution, the urgent need for renewed peace negotiations, and the
UK’s clear and longstanding position on the status of Jerusalem,” Johnson stated.

 “It should be determined in a negotiated
settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and Jerusalem should
ultimately be the shared capital of the Israeli and Palestinian states,” he
stated.

The
United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted last month in favor of a
nonbinding resolution condemning US
President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the
capital of Israel. The resolution also represents a rejection of the US
intention to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, a policy that has been
sanctioned by US law for over two decades.

The
UNGA voted 128-9 with 35 abstentions to declare Trump’s declaration as “null
and void.” The UK was among those that voted in favor of the resolution.

In
an address ahead of the UN vote, al-Malki said the US decision represents
“an aggression on the natural rights of the Palestinian people…and all Arabs
and Muslims of the world.” He made repeated references to Muslim holy sites in
Jerusalem, without ever acknowledging the ancient Jewish
ties to the holy city.