Majority of United Nations member states has said that the US to declare President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's "null and void" was unprecedented threats.
UN General Assembly emergency meeting was held on Thursday for the non-binding resolution and was approved with 128 votes in favor and nine against while 35 countries abstained.
The non-binding resolution was passed despite intimidation by Trump, who had warned the other members who would vote against his decision that he will remove their financial aid, the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley promised that she would be "taking names" of those countries.
Despite all the pressure exerted on them, after the vote, Palestinian leaders called the vote a victory for Palestine and thanked all the one who rejected Trump's unilateral move.
" This decision reaffirms once again that the just Palestinian cause enjoys the support of international community, and no decisions made by any side could change the reality, that Jerusalem is an occupied territory under international law," Spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said in a statement.
Palestinian chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, condemned Washington's decision but said the UN vote showed respect for the rule of law.
" It's a day of shame to those who stood shoulder to shoulder with the occupation and settlements against international law," Saab Erekat said.
"But we appreciate very much that the majority of the international community decided, in spite of the threats and intimidation of the US, to stand tall with wisdom, far-sightedness, international law and the rule of law - and not the rule of the jungle."
"dignity and sovereignty are not for sale" - Mevlut Cavusoglu, foreign minister of Turkey and a co-sponsor of the resolution posted on Twitter.
Today, the international community once again showed that dignity and sovereignty are not for sale.#Turkey #Palestine and all other co-sponsors thank every country that supported #UNGA resolution on Palestine. pic.twitter.com/nw4Up6U8Fk— Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (@MevlutCavusoglu) December 21, 2017
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, also mentioned the result of the vote on Twitter, naming it an "a resounding global NO to Trump regime's thuggish intimidation" at the UN.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister, who had called the UN a "house of lies", condemned the "preposterous" vote and thanked Trump for his stance on Jerusalem for his part.
" I do appreciate the fact that a growing number of countries refused to participate in this theatre of the absurd," he said in a televised statement.
"So I appreciate that, and especially I want to again express our thanks to President Trump and Ambassador Haley, for their stalwart defense of Israel and their stalwart defense of the truth," he added.
The session takes time on Thursday at the 193-member body was held at the request of Arab and Muslim countries after the US vetoes the same measure in the Security Council on Monday.
The vote was 14 to 1 that cause the US to outnumbered.
Security Council's five permanent members - the US, France, Russia, France and China had veto power on Monday's vote. there are currently no vetoes at the General Assembly.
The draft resolution approved on Thursday did not mention the US by name but expressed "deep regret at recent decisions" concerning Jerusalem's status similar to the Egyptian-drafted text that was blocked by Washington on Monday.
"great humiliation for the US". Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara said regarding the vote result.
"They voted for what they saw as a violation of international law," Bishara said.
"The resolution starts by naming several UN Security Council resolutions, where the US either voted for or abstained, saying that Israel cannot annex East Jerusalem; that Israel cannot export its own population to East Jerusalem; that Israel cannot continue with the settlement building in East Jerusalem and so on," he added.
" All in all, 128 countries voted for the international law."
SOURCE: Aljazeera
