Arab MK urges OIC to expel US envoys over Jerusalem

TEL AVIV

An Israeli Arab lawmaker has called on Muslim leaders meeting in Istanbul to expel U.S. ambassadors in response to U.S. President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) opened an extraordinary summit in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss repercussions of last week’s U.S. recognition of the city as Israel’s capital.

"We know the OIC will reject this decision,” Talab Abu Arar, a member of Knesset (Israel’s parliament), told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

He, however, said that condemning and rejecting the U.S. recognition would be “meaningless”.

“Arab and Islamic leaders must pressure the U.S. for revoking its decision by expelling U.S. ambassadors,” he said.

The reverse of U.S. policy regarding neutrality on Jerusalem has sparked a wave of condemnations and protests in the Palestinian territories and Arab and Muslim countries.

"Jerusalem will be the capital of a Palestinian state. There is no place for the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem,” Abu Arar said, going on to warn that the U.S. decision would destabilize the Middle East.

“Such attempts by the U.S. will set the entire region on fire and will result in events that no one will be pleased with," he warned.

Asked about the Arab reaction to Trump’s decision on Jerusalem, the MK described the response as “weak” and “meaningless”.

"I want to say that we do not trust the Arab world, which has given weak and meaningless reactions," he said.

Jerusalem remains at the core of the Israel-Palestine conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem -- now occupied by Israel -- might eventually serve as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Israel first occupied the Palestinian West Bank, including East Jerusalem, during the 1967 Middle East War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the Jewish state -- a move never recognized by the international community.

International law continues to view the West Bank and East Jerusalem as “occupied territories” and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity on the land as illegal.

Reporting by Esat Firat and Turgut Alp Boyraz; Writing by Merve Aydogan