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.
Photo By EU2017EE Estonian Presidency (Boris Johnson) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons