NETANYAHU: EUROPEAN COUNTRIES WILL FOLLOW TRUMP ON JERUSALEM
NETANYAHU:
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES WILL FOLLOW TRUMP ON JERUSALEM
Speaking in Brussels, where he is meeting European Union foreign
ministers, Netanyahu said Trump's announcement was based on "recognizing
reality."
Trump's move Wednesday to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of
Israel and commit to moving the US embassy to the holy city prompted
international criticism and sparked protests across the world.
The announcement, which upended seven decades of US foreign
policy, delighted Israeli officials but was condemned by Palestinian leaders,
who see East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Speaking alongside European Union diplomatic chief Federica
Mogherini -- who last week described
Trump's announcement as
a "dangerous" move that "discredited a bit the United States as
an honest broker" in the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process --
Netanyahu praised the shift in US policy.
"Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel for 70
years," Netanyahu said. "I think what President Trump has done is put
facts squarely on the table. Peace is based on reality. Peace is based on
recognizing reality."
Netanyahu speaks alongside EU foreign policy chief Federica
Mogherini in Brussels on Monday.
"I believe that even though we don't have an agreement yet,
this is what will happen in the future. I believe that all or most of the
European countries will move their embassies to Jerusalem, recognize Jerusalem
as Israel's capital and engage robustly with us for security, prosperity and
peace."
Erdogan, Netanyahu trade barbs
Netanyahu's appearance in Brussels comes the day after he held
talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, who last week said the
new American policy contravened
international law.
On Sunday, Macron expressed further reservations about the move
but condemned "all forms of attacks" against Israel in a statement
made alongside Netanyahu.
Erdogan, pictured in Greece last week, described Israel as a
"terrorist" state on Sunday.
Netanyahu also traded barbs with Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, who described
Israel as a "terrorist" and
"child-murderer state" on Sunday.
"Jerusalem is the apple of our eye. We will not abandon it
to the child-murderer state. We will not abandon it to an occupier state,"
Erdogan said in an address in the Turkish city of Sivas.
"I'm not used to receiving lectures about morality from a
leader who bombs Kurdish villagers in his native Turkey, who jails journalists,
who helps Iran go around international sanctions, and who helps terrorists,
including in Gaza, kill innocent people," Netanyahu said in response
Sunday. "That is not the man who is going to lecture us."
Erdogan spoke out again Monday in Ankara, Turkey, at a news
conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the move will cause
"disillusionment for Muslims, Christians as well as Jews with common
sense." Putin said the US decision on Jerusalem "doesn't help to
regulate the situation in the Middle East, but destabilizes a very complex situation
in the region."
Demonstrations on Sunday
The fallout from Trump's announcement continued Sunday with
fresh demonstrations in a number of countries, including Turkey, Lebanon and
Morocco.
Lebanese security forces clashed with protesters Sunday near the
US embassy in Beirut, where hundreds of protesters and dozens of riot police
gathered in front of the entrance leading to the heavily fortified building.
Hundreds protest outside the US embassy in Beirut on Sunday.
Despite calls to keep the demonstration peaceful, violence broke
out as crowds threw plastic water bottles, stones and sticks at the police, who
responded with tear gas and water cannons.
The Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah plans to
hold a demonstration Monday in the Beirut suburbs to condemn Trump's
announcement.
On Sunday, a Palestinian man was arrested after stabbing an
Israeli security guard at Jerusalem's central bus station in what police
described as a terror attack. More than 300 people were injured Friday across
Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza during protests against Trump's decision,
according to the Palestinian Authority's Health Ministry.
Two Palestinians were killed Saturday in Gaza by Israeli
airstrikes that were launched in response to rockets fired into southern Israel
from Gaza.
Palestinians: No formal communication with US
Palestinian officials have reacted furiously to Trump's
Jerusalem move. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki told reporters in Cairo
on Saturday that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would not meet
with US Vice President Mike Pence during his planned visit this month to the
region.
Malki said the Palestinian Authority considers the United States
to have "withdrawn ... from the peace process" and "positioned
itself as an actor in the conflict and not as a mediator."
Calling the Trump administration decision "illegal and
illegitimate and null and void legally and politically," Malki said there
would be no formal communication with US officials.
He said the Palestinian leadership had "no intention of
withdrawing from the peace process" and would instead seek a new mediator
to work toward a two-state solution.