Arab League to hold meeting on Jerusalem next month

The Arab League will meet on Feb. 1 to discuss how to counter U.S. President Donald Trump’s move last month to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Egypt’s state news agency MENA said on Wednesday.

Six Arab foreign ministers who met in Amman last week said Arab states would embark on a diplomatic drive to persuade the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital on territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war.

Arab foreign ministers said in an emergency meeting held following Trump’s decision on December 6 that the move would spur violence throughout the region. They described Trump’s announcement as a “dangerous violation of international law” which had no legal impact.

In recognizing Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy, imperiling Middle East peace efforts and upsetting the Arab world and Western allies alike.

The status of Jerusalem – home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions – is one of the biggest obstacles to reaching a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Source: Reuters